


What Lies Beneath

by TheWheelWithinTheWheel



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Daddy Kink, Drug Use, Eating Disorders, F/M, May/December Relationship, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2018-12-07 03:39:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 112,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11615112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWheelWithinTheWheel/pseuds/TheWheelWithinTheWheel
Summary: Jim Hopper had long prided himself on not being the type to lose his head over a woman. But when 23-year-old sexpot Gloria De Falco moves to Hawkins in the summer of ’85, our favorite Chief of Police finds himself with a brand new addiction he simply cannot shake.As a besotted Sheriff strives to protect the object of his affections from the paranormal goings-on plaguing their little town, he finds himself venturing down a whole new rabbit hole as it becomes increasingly clear: what Ms. De Falco really needs is protection from HERSELF. Good thing her would-be hero’s got a massive savior complex…





	1. The Nanny

_Haven’t we met? Some kind of beautiful stranger…_

_You could be good for me. I’ve had the taste for danger._

_If I’m smart than I’ll run away. But I’m not so I guess I’ll stay._

_Heaven forbid, I’ll take my chance on a beautiful stranger._

 

She’d been in town all of a week before Hopper decided he was definitely going to fuck her.

It hadn’t been a give-in initially, though certainly not from lack of desire. The first time he’d met the Maitlands’ new nanny (or ‘au pair’, as Mrs. Maitland had insisted on introducing her, despite the fact that the girl was about as French as a bowl of spaghetti), he was sorely tempted to blow off the rest of Hawkins’ annual Memorial Day barbecue in the name of “showing the new girl around town”. She’d arrived at the community pool wearing little more than bedazzled jean shorts and a lime green bikini top that left _very_ little to the imagination. That in and of itself was enough to get Hopper’s juices flowing, but God, _the way those tawney locks shone when the summer sun hit them_. **_The way she licked those fire-engine red lips_** when Toby Maitland handed her a Brewsky from the cooler **.** Watching her suck the suds off the lid had him practically _on fire_ where he sat by the open bar. In any other situation, Hopper wouldn’t have even hesitated to make a move.

_However._

She was young. _Very_ young. Hopper had pegged her at little older than twenty-three  _(“When was the last time I had a twenty-three year old?”_ he couldn’t help but muse to himself naughtily before forcing the thought right back out of his head). And half the neighborhood was there watching his every move; his misadventures with the Byers, their friends, and the Hawkins National Laboratory having garnered him more than enough interest among the townies to feed his ego the past two years. The _last_ thing he needed was for gossip to start flying every which way across town that their local hero had taken to sporting with nannies half his age.

So Hopper actually managed to conduct himself with restraint, for once. He shook the girl’s soft, dove-like hand politely while she introduced herself as “Gloria De Falco, from Long Island”, complimented her briefly on her taste in rock bands (made evident from the Led Zeppelin logo she’d patched onto thosedaisy dukes), and then bee-lined for the buffet table as quickly as he could, promising himself a nice cold shower later as a reward for his good behavior. Alone time with his hand tonight would make a poor substitute for the star of his newfound fantasies, but it would have to do. And fantasy would just have to be the extent of it, dammit.

Except that it _wasn't._  Because the second time they met broke his resolve completely.

It was a stiflingly hot Tuesday morning when she strutted into his office, a skimpy black mini-skirt swaying sinfully along her hips, rhinestone-encrusted sunglasses making her look like some wannabe actress (“ _She’s certainly got the looks”,_ Hopper noted to himself as his eyes traveled down those pale, slender legs). The pint-sized twin terrors currently taking up his office space, Stef and Paulie Maitland, suddenly stirred from their seats behind him, the mottled blue marble Stef had been bouncing gratingly on Flo’s freshly waxed floor now stopped in her hand.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say you’ve come to pick up Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over here,” Hopper jerked his thumb at the little blonde miscreants currently sticking their tongues out at him behind his back.

The young woman tilted her sunglasses up to her forehead with a small sigh, allowing Hopper to admire the lovely set of sandalwood eyes that’d been hidden underneath.

“Yes, I’m afraid duty demands that I am. That, and a hefty student loan debt.” Her response to his own barb made him laugh out loud.

“The things we do to pay the bills, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” she affirmed with a roll of those hazel eyes before finally turning to speak to the twins. “Well now, _sweetlings_ ,” she began with a slight edge in her voice that Hopper swore made little Paulie blanch. “I don’t suppose one of you can explain to me what on God’s good earth possessed you to set off sparklers in the school parking lot?”

Stef let out an exasperated whine from the back of her throat. “There’s nothing to do in this stupid town, Gloria! How do you expect us to have any fun around here? Join the AV club with all the _nerds_?!” The ten-year-old threw her arms in the air as if the point made itself, but Gloria just shook her head.

“And your mother wonders why you two have such a hard time making friends. Must be your _winning personalities_.”

Paulie, who’d remained fairly quiet throughout the whole ordeal, finally seemed to lose it at that. “How _dare_ you speak to us that way!” he spat at Gloria furiously. “You work for _us_ you know; if we wanted we could get you fired just like _that_!” he paired the last word with a loud ‘snap’ of his thumb and forefinger.  

Gloria allowed herself a small snicker before silently approaching the twins’ chairs. Placing her hands carefully on the armrests between them, she leaned down until she was perfectly eye-level with the twosome, her face inching closer and closer until they had no alternative but to lean all the way back in their seats, struggling for any semblance of personal space.

“ _Oh no,_ _my little dears_ ,” she began in a dangerously quiet voice, “I work for your _parents_ , who rely on me to give them detailed reports on your every. Last. Move.” She went back and forth tapping their noses with an impeccably polished finger to punctuate the last three words. “What's more, they trust my advice implicitly when it comes to what'sbest for you. So unless you want to spend the next eight years at the mercy of some _seriously mean_ _nuns_ at St. Ignatius’ Boarding School for Wayward Children, you’re going to start behaving like the model of perfect kids. Do we have an understanding, _darlings_?” She bared her teeth on the last word, and Hopper could tell it was all little Stef could do not to soil her pants where she sat.

Paulie opened his mouth to reply, but all the fire that’d been raging inside him just moments ago had clearly flamed out at her threat. He simply nodded without another word, eyes turned downcast to the floor in defeat.

 _Hot damn, what a disciplinarian._ Despite the seriousness of the situation, Hopper found his thoughts quickly growing lustful again. _Bet she’s every bit as bossy in the bedroom…_

Gloria slowly straightened herself, and with an almost imperceptible jerk of her head, had the twins darting from their seats and bolting out the door for her minivan in less than ten seconds.

“Thank you for keeping an eye on them, Sir,” Gloria turned her attentions back to Hopper now, the deadly timber in her voice replaced with nothing short of utter politeness.

“’S’no problem,” he brushed off her gratitude with a small shrug, trying and failing to ignore the way his cock had twitched when she’d addressed him as ‘Sir’. “Hardly the first time the boys and I had to round up some bored kids trying to pull a dumb prank.”

“Ugh, even so, I should apologize for their behavior. Their favorite pastime as of late seems to be looking for new ways to test authority, including mine. Unfortunately for them, I’m trained not to blink.”

Hopper found himself chuckling at her for the second time in five minutes. “Yeah, I can see that. You certainly seem to have quite the handle on this nanny gig, huh?”

A strange look seemed to shadow Gloria’s face at that, something Hopper couldn’t quite place, but just as quickly as it had come, it vanished. “Oh yeah, I was practically  _born_ to be a nanny. Probably still be doing it twenty years from now.  A regular _Mary fucking Poppins_ ,” she capped off her last remark with a pointed smirk that didn’t quite reach up to her eyes. “Anyway, I’ll see to it that there’ll be no more sneaking firecrackers into school from now on.  You shouldn’t have any more problems from my Little Monsters in the future.”

“I hope so, for their sake. Although,” and for years afterward, Hopper would wonder what in the _hell_ had possessed him to follow up with this, “I’d hate to not have an excuse to see you again.”

Gloria’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment.  _Dammit Hop, what were you thinking????_   He immediately began mentally kicking himself around like a football. He wasn’t typically _that_ stupid around women, for fuck’s sake.

But to his surprise, the young woman’s pale pink lips quickly broke out into a wicked grin.

“Oh you needn’t worry, Sheriff,” she began in that same dangerous timber she’d used with the Maitland kids earlier, although this time a distinctively _flirty_ lilt permeated her words. “The twins don’t have to end up in Juvie for us to get better acquainted. And you certainly seem like _just_ the sort of man I’d like to get to know better.” 

Her eyes began shamelessly roaming up and down the length of his uniform, and Hopper knew the sweat beading on his forehead now had absolutely _nothing_ to do with the heat.

“See you around town, Chief.” Her farewell snapped him back to reality. She shot him a not-so-coy wink before sliding her sunglasses back down over her eyes and sauntering away, her miniskirt swaying ever-so slightly more provocatively around that delectable ass of hers than when she’d first walked in.

 _Oh yeah_ , Hopper thought to himself with a long, slow lick of his lips. _I'm totally gonna fuck her. It’ll probably get me in a_ shit load _of trouble, but I’m totally gonna fuck her_.

How very right he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, lovelies. :) Thanks for joining me on this particular venture; it's actually my first-ever stab at published fanfic (gasps). I’m well aware I have a ways to go in terms of improving my writing skill, but all us aspiring authors have to start off somewhere, right? With that in mind, your feedback is more than welcome :)
> 
> When it comes to updates, my goal is to post a new chapter at least once a week (if not sooner), so stay tuned folks. We're in for a WILD ride...


	2. On Fire

It didn’t take Ms. De Falco long to live up to her parting promise that they would get better acquainted. To Hopper’s delight, it would turn out that they had the exact same taste in after-work hangouts—namely, dive bars surreptitiously planted in the ~~seedier part of~~ outskirts of town.

Friday night around eight found a half-drunk Hopper at one such establishment (a jumping little place called _Munden’s),_ sucking down the fourth Schlitz bought for him by an off-duty fireman named Chuck, who insisted it was the least he could do for “the finest sheriff Hawkins’ ever had”. He was trying his damndest to block out some tone-deaf kid with a poorly conceived mohawk belting out the world’s worst rendition of “I Will Survive” on the newly installed karaoke machine, when who should stroll into the bar but his shiny new crush. Her long, curly locks teased up to the sky, Aerosmith dress top hanging provocatively off of one shoulder, hot pink leggings so form-fitting he was sure he could trace her ass in his sleep if asked.

Chuck let out a long, low whistle next to him. “Well looky looky what we got over here. _Hot damn_ that little girl’s fine, ain’t she?”

Hopper’s eyes remained glued to her spritely form as she glided her way over towards the bar, apparently oblivious to his presence on the corner stool (which bruised his ego a bit, if he were honest). “Oh yeah. _Real fine_.”

“Now that’s the type ‘a girl I’d give anything to play a round of “hide the sausage” with, if you know what I mean.”  

Hopper remained silent, his mouth forming into a hard line over the cigarette currently resting between his teeth. Chuck apparently picked up on his drinking buddy’s burgeoning annoyance with him, because he quickly quieted down on his crude appraisal of the young woman before them. Hopper meanwhile continued to stare at the object of his desire without a trace of shame.

"Evening, Sid,” Gloria greeted the bartender, a bald, portly man covered head to foot in Whitesnake tattoos, with a small wave and a warm smile as she took her seat at the middle of the bar.

“Hey, Hot Stuff.” Hopper crinkled his eyebrows in distaste at the pet name, before remembering it was impolite of him to be eavesdropping on their conversation in the first place. Not that it was going to stop him, of course.

“What’ll ya have tonight, babe?”

“Strawberry margarita on ice, hold the salt.” She tapped her electric blue fingernails on the bar top absentmindedly as he poured her drink, while Mohawk meanwhile made a not-so-smooth transition from “I Will Survive” to “The Glory of Love” up on stage. She turned slightly to stare at their would-be crooner for all of ten seconds before her eyes appeared to slide out of focus inside her skull.

“Alcohol and delusion are a _terrible_ mix,” Gloria stated flatly as Sid handed over her cocktail. He sighed and shook his head.

“Kid, either do me a solid and put me out of my misery, or get on up there and show them what’s _what_.”

Gloria giggled, a pleasant sound that made Hopper think of wind chimes caught in a strong breeze. He wondered if she’d giggle like that once he got her underneath him…

"Eh, I don’t know, Sid,” she began hesitantly. “I’m a little tired tonight. I had to spend two hours talking down a terrified ten-year-old from a tree he had no business climbing in the first place. Not sure my vocal chords are up to their usual standard.”

"Shame. After that little show you put on Wednesday night, Big Sally and I made a bet over how many more horn dogs you'll get salivating over your next performance, and I can really use the fifty bucks.”

Gloria did a small spit-take with her drink. “Sid!”

“Hey don’t shoot the messenger. I put my fifty that you’d get at least twenty, Hot Stuff,” Sid raised his hands in the air defensively.

Just then a smattering of applause broke out from the front of the bar as Mohawk’s set finally came to an end. He took an overdramatic bow before trying (and failing) to cram the microphone back onto the karaoke stand.

“Oh thank God,” Sid muttered loudly while toweling a dirty glass.

Big Sally, who’d owned _Munden’s_ for as long as Hopper could remember, took to the stage and grabbed the mic (a little aggressively) out of Mohawk’s hand. “Alright now ladies and gents, the bar is hopping and the night is still young. Who here’s brave enough to take the next slot?”

“ _Go on,_ ” Sid mouthed at Gloria while gesturing in Sally’s direction.

Gloria bit her lip and shrugged. “Well, who I am to deny you your fifty bucks, Sid?”

She raised her hand high in the air, and Big Sally waved her on up to the make-shift stage with an approving nod. Downing the last of her liquid courage for good measure, Gloria slid off the barstool and pranced up to where the older woman was waiting.

“Alright folks,” Gloria began fiddling with the buttons on the karaoke machine until she finally came to the selection she’d been searching for, “How many people here are Annie Lennox fans?”

Her inquiry was met with _wild_ applause intermingled with several drunken hoots and hollers (and more than a few catcalls). Gloria grinned.

“Awesome. Whaddya guys say we enjoy some 'Sweet Dreams’ tonight then, hmm?” She began sashaying where she stood as the first set of pulsating beats from the Eurythmics hit began blaring out of the electric speakers.

“ _Sweet dreams are made of these,”_ she cooed out in a voice like red velvet. Hopper made a mental note to ask her where she learned to sing like that. _Maybe once he got her legs around his neck…_

“ _Who am I to disagree_?” She’d started sauntering back and forth on the stage now, shamelessly peacocking for the eager audience of drunken young bucks that Sid had correctly assessed (to Hopper’s immense displeasure) would swarm beneath her.

“ _I travel the world and the seven seas_ ,” she chanted on, winking at a russet-haired boy who looked barely out of high school. “Everybody’s _looking for something.”_  

Hopper was able to tolerate about thirty more seconds of having to watch her flirt with little boys before he decided enough was enough. He stood up abruptly where he sat (a mistake, he soon learned, as he began swaying slightly, those Schlitzes that Chuck had plied him with taking their inevitable toll on his equilibrium). As soon as he was able to regain his bearings he bade a short farewell to his drinking companion and began pushing his way towards the front of the bar (happily shoving several of Gloria’s other admirers out of the way in the process), hoping to catch her eye once he was close enough to the stage.

“ _Some of them want to use you_ ,” She finally caught sight of Hopper mid-twirl, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise before she quickly regained her poise. “ _Some of them want to get used by_ you.” Gloria pointed right at him on the last word, and he found himself grinning like an idiot to be singled out by his pretty little songbird in front of everyone at the bar.

“ _Some of them want to abuse you…Some of them_ want _to be abused._ ” She was looking him dead in the eye as she sang, the rest of the audience seemingly forgotten beneath her.

“ _Hold your head up, moving on. Keep your head up, moving on. Hold your head up, moving on. Keep your head up.._.”

She’d started moving along the length of the stage again, hips swaying back and forth provocatively, but eyes never leaving him for a second. Hopper found himself daydreaming about her dancing like that for him _and only him_ once they were finally alone (and naked).

“ _Sweet dreams are made of these. Who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas._ Everybody’s _looking for something...._ ” She began moaning orgasmically on the last few “ _Oooh oohs_ ”, which did nothing to quell the illicit fantasy currently burning inside his brain. He was more determined than ever to get her alone by the end of the night…

All too soon his little songbird’s show had to come to its inevitable end. Gloria took her bow to wild applause from the audience before skimpering down off the stage like a giddy schoolgirl. To Hopper’s own delight she bee-lined straight for him, that same salacious smile she’d worn when he’d first hit on her back at the station spreading across her small, diamond-shaped face. “Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here, Sheriff.”

Her shameless flirtiness made him grin in turn. “Evening, Ms. De Falco. That was quite a performance you just gave up there.”

She giggled that same, wind-chimey laugh again. “I figured you must have enjoyed it, the way you were _staring_ after all...” Gloria trailed off here, not-so-shyly twirling one of her autumn brown locks between those pale, slender fingers.

He raised an eyebrow at her candor. “Well now, how could I possibly keep my eyes off of you? My mother always taught me to appreciate fine art when I see it.”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and sucked in a breath. “Boy you _are_ a smooth one, aren’t you Sheriff? _Quite_ the silver tongue...”  

Hopper grinned and licked his lips lasciviously at that, hoping she too was fantasizing about _all the dirty things_ he’d like to do to her with said tongue. He decided there was no reason left to play coy any longer. “So are we just going to stand here flirting all night or can I buy you a drink?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

They sidled back up to the bar together, Hopper taking the opportunity to furtively sniff at her hair (which smelled like some delectable mixture between vanilla and apple blossoms, because _of course_ it did). Gloria ordered another fruity margarita, which she agreed to let Hopper take sips out of here and there as a thank you for his ‘generosity’.

“So, little Ms. Mary Poppins is a regular old barfly, huh? What _would_ dear sweet Mrs. Maitland think?” he teased her playfully, a faux-mortified expression alighting in his eyes.

Gloria snorted. “Pretty sure Mrs. Maitland’s got bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that her husband’s probably getting his fourth lap dance from Chastity down at _The Eager Beaver_ right about now.” She rolled her eyes in disgust, while Hopper’s widened in disbelief.

“ _Toby Maitland?_ As in ‘Head of the Neighborhood Association’ Toby Maitland? _Seriously?_ Shit man, and I had him pegged as such a straight-arrow captain this entire time. Always seemed too self-righteous for that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, well,” Gloria shrugged and began toying with her straw wrapper distractedly. “It’s the self-righteous ones who can snow you the most, if you let them. I learned a long time ago not to let _anyone_ surprise me.”

“Smart girl,” Hopper raised the margarita glass to her in solidarity before taking his first draft out of it.  

The pair ended up conversing in this vein for the next several hours. They started off with fairly innocuous subjects like movies (she made him swear to pick up _The Breakfast Club_ on VHS, it having apparently changed her whole conception of self-identity), and sports (Gloria proudly pledged her lifelong allegiance to the _Mets_ , complete with hand over her heart, which nearly made Hopper fall off of his chair), but then gradually moved onto more personal topics as the night wore on.

Despite repeated attempts on Gloria’s part to solicit more background info on him, Hopper was determined to keep the bulk of their discussion focused on _her_ , both out of his own natural curiosity as well as a desire to keep her as far removed from the darker (and dangerous) aspects of his life as possible. He never had quite forgotten the old clichés his father used to drill into his head about ‘loose lips sinking ships’ and all that.

So he found subtle ways to divert the conversation whenever she strayed into uncomfortable territories. He gave up certain tidbits here and there to sate her interest, like his growing up in Hawkins (Gloria playfully slapped his leg and swore she _totally_ had him pegged as a townie), his stint in the army way back when (she thanked him sincerely for his service, which was _a lot_ more than he’d received from most folks at the time), and he even eventually admitted to being divorced (this earned him a sympathetic frown, but little more, so he figured she couldn’t have minded all  _that_ much).  

But with every detail he supplied, Hopper managed to expertly reflect the spotlight back onto his young companion. He learned for example that she herself was in fact a twin (which explained why her current gig with the Maitland kids hadn’t given her any pause), and that her vocal ability could be credited entirely to her mother, who’d been a lounge singer in a former life.

Eventually he began probing into her education, stunned to discover she’d actually been a philosophy major at NYU. This naturally propelled their discussion towards _religion_ , which led Gloria to out herself as a diehard Catholic with some _very interesting_ ideas on the trans-dimensionality of the heavenlies, which she referred to as _“the astral plane”._

When he couldn’t help but inquire how someone of such philosophical persuasion ended up becoming a nanny, she explained sardonically that her initial plan was to go for a professorial position that just never panned out, no matter where she applied. As nannying was the only experience on her resume (she’d apparently looked after a number of Greenwich kids on the side all through her stint at NYU), it was either keep on doing that for now or hooking, and she _hated_ walking around in high heels.

The more she divulged about herself, the more Hopper found himself increasingly befuddled by her. Normally he had such a reliable read on people, even the particularly “left-of-center” ones like his poor little Jane ( _“not_ his _Jane,”_ he reminded himself solemnly, _“not_ _anymore...”_ ), because usually he could work out what made them tick after spending enough time with them. But nothing about Gloria De Falco added up to the typical patterns he was used to in his quarry. On the one hand she was easy as Sunday morning, but a deep-enough thinker to have you questioning your own perspectives on life and the universe; proudly religious in her convictions and yet unabashedly carnal at the same damn time. The more he was able to elicit from her, the more he found he had no idea what to expect going forward. Which _fascinated_ him, to say the least.

“So where exactly on Long Island did you grow up?” It occurred to him sometime around 11pm that this was one piece of intel he hadn’t gone fishing for yet.

Gloria finished sipping her third margarita with a loud squelch. “Montauk,” she supplied once she’d taken a breath. “It’s on the eastern-most end of the island. _Beautiful_ beaches out there. My parents’ place is actually right on the water; my sister and I practically _lived_ in the Atlantic during the summertime.”

“Sounds like a dream. What made you leave?”

Gloria hesitated before answering. Hopper wondered whether he might have stuck his nose in a little too far this time…

“Any place is going to have its fair share of good and bad memories,” she finally supplied. “Let’s just say the bad ones all got together and chased me out.”

“You seem kind of young to have _that_ many bad memories,” he noted with a small frown. _Once again she was throwing him for a loop._

She chuckled mirthlessly and offered a small shrug. “In my experience all it takes is one or two _really bad days_ to screw up everything you’ve got going for you. And then you’re left with nothing but your own self-pity to keep you warm at night, if you don’t find a way to break yourself out of the rut. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, I guess so...” The more he thought about it, Hopper realized he himself was all too familiar with the sensation she was describing. Between losing his Sara to the leukemia and Diane walking out on him not long after, he couldn’t get out of the city fast enough once the divorce papers had been signed. But what terrible things might have happened to illicit such a reaction in _her?_

“Ohhhhh I _love_ this song!” Gloria’s elated outcry abruptly broke him out of his morbid contemplations. A middle-aged man in a cowboy hat had taken the stage to croon “I’m On Fire” to the handful of stragglers left occupying the bar.

“ _Hey little girl, is your daddy home? Did he go away and leave you all alone? I got a bad desire…”_

Gloria began bopping her head in her seat, mouthing the words along with the Cowboy and waving her arms in the air like she was really at a Springsteen concert. Her antics couldn’t help but bring a goofy grin to Hopper’s face, a happy diversion from the dark path his thoughts had been leading him down mere moments before.

“So you up for a dance now, beautiful?”

Gloria lit up like a Christmas tree. “ _Fuck, yes_.”

She held out a small, pale hand adorned with bangles of varying sizes for him to take, and he lead her slowly to the middle of the bar, relishing in the electricity that passed between them at the touch. Wrapping a broad arm around her tiny waist, he gently drew her up right against his contact-starved body.

They were so close now he could feel her warm breath washing over the base of his throat (she barely reached his neck in terms of height, which filled Hopper with a litany of ideas as to how he could bend that tight little body around his in bed). So close he could feel those perky twenty-three-year-old breasts brushing against his own chest whenever she exhaled _…_

“ _Tell me now, baby, is he good to you? And can he do to you the things that I do? Oh, no, I can take you higher…_ ”

They began moving together as one, hips swaying against each other with increasing contact and friction as the song went on.

“ _Sometimes it’s like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull. And cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my_ _soul…”_

He twirled her then so that her backside ended up pressed tightly against him now, and she in turn began grinding that sweet little ass of hers _mercilessl_ y against his crotch...

 _“At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head. Only_ you… _can cool my desire…Oh-oh-oh, I’m on_ fire _.”_

“My, my, Sheriff,” Gloria purred with a quick glance over her shoulder as the erection growing rapidly against her rear became much too stiff to ignore. “It would seem one of us really _is_ on fire right about now, hmm?” She began tracing a slender finger down the length of his cheek, and all semblance of control finally broke in him then.

“Honey, you have no idea.” Twirling her back around to face him now, he weaved his thick fingers through that teased-up tawny hair and brought her mouth crashing up to his, determined to indulge in the lushness of her strawberry lips for as long as humanly possible. She in turn didn’t even hesitate to wrap those baby-soft arms sweetly around his neck, standing up on tip toes to better meld them both together, the perfect fusion of _hands and lips and body heat_ to keep the fire raging.

Finally deciding to let them both up for air a full minute later, Hopper broke the kiss with a small gasp, his engorged cock now practically _screaming_ at him to relieve the tension that’d been building since that day at the goddamn barbecue.

“Wanna go back to my place? It’s right by the lake, we can eat breakfast out over the water in the morning, if you like,” he murmured brazenly to her as she began nibbling along his jaw, tongue darting out here and there to lick at the golden brown bristles of his beard.

She smiled into his chin and planted a quick kiss on the dimple there, before tip-toeing even higher to whisper in his ear, “That sounds really nice, but my place is closer. And I’m not sure how much longer I can wait to fuck your brains out, Sheriff.”

In hindsight, Hopper would come to peg that moment as the beginning of The End.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To my very patient readers, I foreswear on my immortal soul that we will FINALLY get to all that smokin' hot, rough sex I promised in the next chapter (rubs palms together gleefully).


	3. Dangerous Liaisons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief PSA guys: there be rough sex and daddy-kink ahoy in this chapter. You've been warned....

In what seemed like no time at all Hopper and Gloria had crept out of _Munden’s_ hand-in-hand and were blazing down the freeway in the former’s blazer. Gloria had apparently arrived at the bar via taxi and was more than happy to take Hopper’s truck back to her place (as attested by the hand shamelessly stroking up and down the length of his thigh as he drove).

Hopper on his part had to muster every ounce of self control he possessed not to just pull over on the side of the road and screw her senselessly right then and there.  Every time those spider-like fingers crept their way towards his cock he had to bite his lip and remind himself he didn’t want tonight to end in some run-of-the-mill quickie. No, with someone as young and beautiful as she, tonight had to _last_.

They were roughly a block away from the Maitlands’ old Colonial when Gloria abruptly halted her ministrations and instructed him to pull over.

“Why so far away?” he turned to her in the passenger seat with a raised eyebrow.

Gloria shrugged. “Not really keen for the Maitlands’ to see the Chief of Police’s car parked out in front their guest house. Are you?”

Hopper had to concede to her point. Dry humping her on the dance floor at _Munden’s_ was one thing, but leaving his truck smack dab in the middle of Toby and Martha Maitland’s driveway  was as good as wearing a shirt with the words “I’m Screwing the New Girl” on it all over the damn town.

Pulling over next to a secluded patch of woods, Hopper set the blazer in park and hurriedly climbed out of the car, anticipation of the night ahead of him pushing his cock to the verge of explosion.

“So _eager_ ,” Gloria commented slyly as he quickly joined her on her side of the truck.

He grinned giddily and sidled right up next to her. “Well, to be fair, it’s been a _long_ time since I fucked a twenty-three-year-old,” he whispered into her ear before proceeding to nibble gently at the outer shell.

She sighed contentedly at his attentions, tilting her head slightly to give him better access to the lobe he was currently attempting to suck. “Well I’ve never fucked a cop before,” Gloria breathed out as he moved on to planting kisses down the length of her neck. “At least not that I know of. So I guess we’ve got something in common. _Kinda_. If you squint. ”

Hopper smiled into her hair, _genuinely_ smiled, finding it refreshing to spend time with someone who had such a similar sense of humor. Ironic he’d have that in common with someone so much younger than himself…

“Sooooo any chance you’re up for a little _trespassing_ tonight, copper?” she inquired with a dangerous arch of the eyebrow.

Hopper tutted and crossed his arms mockingly. “Trying to entice an officer of the law into breaking it? I may just have to cuff you for being such a _naughty_ little girl, Missie.” He licked a trail up her neck at that, causing her to break out in goosebumps wherever his tongue had been.

“Oh honey, I’d be sorely disappointed if this night _didn’t_ end with me in handcuffs,” she winked at him playfully and, taking his hand in her own, led Hopper around the back of the Maitlands’ meticulously landscaped property. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually snuck into a neighbor’s yard like this: maybe on prom night when he was seventeen? It was an invigorating experience, to say the least.

After about five minutes of wandering around Mrs. Maitland’s endless array of duck topiaries in the dark, a little cottage with thatched windows and a domed roof finally materialized into view. Hopper couldn’t help but scrunch up his face in distaste at its diminutive size. Judging from the outside, you could probably fit two of the tiny shacks into his trailer down by the lake.

When they finally arrived at her front door Gloria pulled a small, silver key out of her jacket pocket and, sticking it into the lock, turned it quickly and led the way inside her apartment. “Welcome to my _extremely_ humble abode,” she spread her arms around with mock enthusiasm after flicking on a light somewhere by the door.

The inside of the cottage was about as cramped as you might expect looking at it from the yard. The kitchenette and bedroom practically blended into each other, with her nightstand and refrigerator mere inches apart. The bathroom was about the size of a broom cupboard, with what looked like the world’s oldest toilet wedged right next to a sink that wouldn’t stop dripping, and a bathtub that for all intents and purposes might as well have been a large bucket. There was no living room: a portable TV the size of a lunchbox with a disproportionate number of wires sticking out sat on the back half of a fold-out tray he could only assume served as her dining table. The only thing about her place that looked remotely cozy was a queen-sized bed with green linen sheets and large, fluffy cotton pillows.

“Nice place,” Hopper stated simply after taking it all in, not wanting to offend.

Gloria snorted and waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s a tiny piece of crap in the middle of nowhere. But I don’t have to pay a lick of rent on it and I’ve never really been one to throw parties anyway, so who cares?”

He nodded silently, not quite agreeing with the sentiment but also not wanting to chance spoiling their evening together. Luckily for Hopper he was soon to be distracted from the drabness of their surroundings by Gloria abruptly dropping her leggings to the floor and kicking them out from under her.

“Boy you sure do move quick, huh?” he teased her with waggling eyebrows as he approached her rapidly undressing form.

She flashed him a saucy grin before yanking her dress top over her head. “Life’s too short to beat around the bush, Sheriff. Unless it’s _mine_ , of course.”

He laughed out loud at that, but his thoughts immediately grew serious again at the sight of her lovely tear-shaped tits perked up enticingly in a lacey black bra. He reached an itching hand out to stroke one but she quickly turned her back to him before he got the chance.

“Mind helping a girl out?” She jerked a thumb towards her bra strap while fluttering her eyelashes at him innocently over her shoulder. She _really_ did love to tease him, but two could play that game.

“Sure thing.” He took the silky black fabric between his fingers and slowly began unhooking the straps while placing open-mouthed kisses down the length of her bare back. He heard her intake a sharp breath at the feel of his hot, wanting lips on her baby-soft skin. It pleased him to no end to know he could have that sort of effect on her. The same effect she was having on _him_.

Eventually Hopper ceased his attentions on her shoulder and began sliding the bra down the length of her arms, itching to toy with those gorgeous breasts of hers between his fingers. Palming each tit in a hungry hand, he began massaging them in a gentle circular motion, tweaking those cherry-pink nipples here and there whenever it suited his fancy. She let out a long, soft moan at his ministrations and rested her head back contentedly onto his chest.

“You’ve got the magic touch, Sheriff. That _is_ for sure.”

He smiled smugly into her hair and, nudging her head softly with his own to face him, leaned down and whispered “ _Call me Jim_ ,” before capturing her mouth in another scorching kiss.

Hopper wasn’t sure how long they stood there locked together, his tongue slipping in and out of her mouth between moans, her breasts heaving up and down against his increasingly sweaty palms, when all too soon the moment was rudely interrupted by a sharp tap on the front door.

Gloria broke away from him instantly. “W-who’s there?” she stammered out nervously.

“ _You-know-who,_  Little Lady,” came a husky male voice from the other side of the door.

“Oh, shit,” she breathed out sharply with a frustrated roll of her eyes. “It’s friggin’ Maitland, probably plotzed outta his mind, as usual. Hold on…”

Gloria grabbed Hopper by the hand and hurriedly led him to what he could only assume was originally meant to be a mini pantry, but now apparently served as a make-shift closet. Grabbing a silky jade robe amongst the small collection of clothes hanging within, she wrapped herself in it quickly before turning back to Hopper with an exasperated sigh.

“Look, I’m real sorry to have to ask you to do this, but I don’t know how Maitland will react if he sees you here, and I _seriously_ can’t afford to get fired right now. Mind waiting in here for a bit?” she gestured to the closet with an embarrassed bite of her lip.

Hopper threw his arms in the air and shrugged. “Yeah, alright. Not exactly the first time I’ve had to hide in a closet when the man of the house shows up.”

She sniggered at that, the tension of the situation easing off of her features somewhat. “Thanks a bunch hon, just give me about a minute to get rid of the big jamoke.”

“Jamoke?”

“Oh, it’s an Italian expression. Means ‘idiot’.”

He snorted loudly as she swiftly slid the closet shut behind her. As it turned out the door didn’t close all the way though, leaving him with a thin sliver of space to peek out at the scene unfolding before him.

“Good evening, Toby.” Gloria answered the door in an uncharacteristically saccharine voice. _Hopper wondered if it killed her a little inside._ “Can I help you with something? Are the twins alright?”

Maitland, whose heavily beer-stained shirt and constant erratic swaying eliminated any doubt in Hopper’s mind that he was three sheets to the wind, guffawed right in Gloria’s face. “Oh I think we both know what I’d like you to help me out with, darlin’.” He licked his fleshy lips in a way that reminded Hopper of that giant slug from the last _Star Wars_ movie.

“ _Fucking pig,”_ he whispered disgustedly to himself in the dark. He sincerely hoped Gloria was about to slap the shit out of the goddamn buffoon for that remark, but to his displeasure that wind-chimey giggle he usually looked forward to so much rang out through the cottage instead.

“Uh yeah, listen Toby: I think we’re both a little too smashed right now. Maybe you should go sleep it off and come back tomorrow, ‘kay?”

Hopper’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. _“Is she being serious?”_

“Oh come on now baby, that’ll just make it all the more fun.” Maitland staggered closer to her now, and Hopper’s increasing consternation only doubled when she didn’t pull away. “I know you wear those skimpy little outfits all day long ‘cause you’re trying to get my attention. _Believe me, it’s working_.”

Gloria appeared to grimace at that, calming down Hopper’s rising blood pressure _somewhat_ , but only somewhat.

“Look Toby…I’m on the rag tonight. Not really in the mood to get ‘down and dirty’ and all that. How about a rain check, hmm?”

Maitland made a face and finally backed off. “Alright sweets. You can keep playing hard to get. _But I’m gonna get you eventually_.”

“Oh, I look forward to it,” she winked at him girlishly before bidding him good night. Hopper felt like he was going to be sick.

“Boy, that was a close one,” Gloria rushed back to the closet to finally let him out. “For a split second there I thought he might just flat-out refuse to leave.”

Hopper stood there facing her with his arms folded angrily. “Funny, you didn’t seem all that put out by his hitting on you like that. If anything I’d say you enjoyed it.”

Her face fell at his sharp tone. “Excuse me?” she inquired uncertainly.  

“I mean you asked him for a ‘rain check’ and all that. Sounds to me like you’re pretty eager to spend time with him.”

“Oh don’t be silly! she exclaimed with a dismissive laugh. “I was just trying to _get rid_ of the drunken ass, I didn’t actually _mean_ any of it.”  

“Really? Cause you seemed pretty damn cozy with him.” Hopper noted sourly, making her halt abruptly mid-chuckle, the humor in her eyes quickly replaced with something decidedly less friendly.

“ _I don’t fuck the people I work for,_ Jim,” she uttered quietly, causing Hopper to blanch somewhat at the sound of his name. He _hated_ that the first time she actually used it ended up being in this effed up context. “And even if I _did_ ,” Gloria continued in that same _painfully_ hushed timbre, “it’s really none of your business anyway.” It was her turn to fold her arms huffily across her chest, and Hopper realized he was one step away from ruining their evening entirely over something that probably wasn’t even worth it.

“You’re right,” he began apologetically, scratching the back of his neck in nervous habit. “I’m being a massive jerk, I’m sorry babydoll.” Hopper hoped the term of endearment would go a ways to earning back some brownie points for him. “I guess I just thought…maybe you were having second thoughts about being with me tonight.” He shrugged uncertainly, hoping that explanation would be enough to soothe her rising ire.

Gloria’s tense posture softened significantly at his admission, comprehension dawning across her features as she began nodding slowly. “I understand,” she replied with a small smile. “But trust me honey, if I wasn’t desperate to fuck the living shit outta you, I wouldn’t have brought you home with me.”

Hopper gulped at that, not expecting her brazen ardor to return _quite_ that quickly. _“Good thing she doesn’t hold a grudge,”_ he thought to himself happily as The Look reappeared within her sparkly sandalwood eyes once more.

“Look, how about we just forget friggin’ Toby Maitland and get right back to where we left off.” She began to approach him again, her wanton manner fully restored now that they’d managed to clear the air. “Where _were_ we anyway? Oh yeah...”

With one practiced move Gloria yanked the slinky green belt around her waist, de-robing right where she stood, and all troubling thoughts about her and Toby Maitland quickly flew out of Hopper’s mind at the sight of her plump, perky breasts. He reached out to resume his previous ministrations on them but she just batted his hands away softly, bringing her own fingers instead to the bottom of his blue flannel shirt, pulling it up and off of his body before stepping back to admire his bare, beefy chest.

“Mmmmmn,” Gloria licked her lips licentiously as she brought her own hands up to stroke him, eagerly running her fingers back and forth through his thick patch of chest hair. “ _Such a big strong manly man_. I knew I was going to love fucking you.” He could tell she was doing everything in her power to pump up his ego after the incident with Maitland, and _he was enjoying every last goddamn second of it_.

She stepped closer and began running her tongue along the rim of his left nipple. Hopper found himself gasping somewhat, not used to receiving those kind of attentions in that particular spot. Turned out it was _quite_ the erogenous zone for him.

Gloria smiled into his chest as his groaning intensified, and took that as her cue to lick a hot trail across his torso until she reached the other nipple. Tenderizing it as she'd done its twin, she gave him a tiny wink before taking a sharp nibble out of it to elicit an even more intense reaction.

“God, babydoll,” he reached a hand down to stroke her silky-smooth locks affectionately, letting her know just how much he was enjoying what she was doing to his body. “ _You really know how to get my engine going_.”

“Oh honey, this is just the foreplay. Wait ‘til we move on to the good stuff.” Gloria began kissing _down, down,_ _all the way down_ now, only stopping when she reached the edge of his bronze belt buckle. Peering up at him with faux-innocence, she began undoing the leather strap around his waist languidly, knowing just what effect her endless teasing was having on him as the bulge mere centimeters from her face grew even wider in length. Gloria smiled wickedly now, and, eyes never leaving his, finally yanked Hopper’s faded blue jeans and pinstripe boxers to the hardwood floor beneath them, revealing a thick, throbbing cock waiting impatiently for her to play with.

Gloria bit her lip hungrily as she took his length in hand, and he groaned shamelessly at the sensation of her cool, baby-soft skin against his painfully aching dick. She barely hesitated before sticking out her curious tongue to wrap around his tip, _licking and stroking_ _and sucking and nibbling_ until his moans grew louder and louder.

“Fuck yeah, keep doing it just like that babydoll.” His hold on her hair tightened significantly now, which she apparently enjoyed, because she chose that moment to shove the tip of her tongue square into his cock hole, making his knees flat-out buckle where he stood.

“ _Shit, shit, shit_!” He had to reach down and steady himself on her pale, bare shoulders so as to avoid falling on top of her. “You’re going to be the death of me, babydoll.”

She chuckled with her lips still wrapped tightly around his prick, and then proceeded to glide her hands sensually around his waist until she was squeezing both of his thick, fleshy ass cheeks in her palms. Using her leverage against his rear to guide him even further into her mouth, she began bobbing her head back and forth with increasing speed and frequency until the friction between his cock and her cheek had him seeing stars.

“God Gloria… I’m gonna cum—“ his last sentence was cut short as he blew his pulsing wad deep into her mouth. She waited patiently until he had finished before removing him slowly from between her lips, taking a few seconds to swallow the hot cum he’d gifted her with as thanks for the _earth-shattering_ blowjob she’d just performed on him.   

He smiled down at her stupidly for several seconds, his brain still blissed out in post-orgasmic ecstasy. “That was fucking incredible, babydoll,” he licked his lower lip lasciviously. “And you know what?” His thinking was becoming somewhat clearer now, and he knew all he wanted to do in that moment was pay her back just as good as she’d given him. “I think you deserve more of the same.”

He bent down and scooped her up where she was kneeled before him, earning him a surprised squeak as Gloria hastily wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling. Hopper wondered at how light Gloria was in his grip as he carried her bridal-style over to her waiting bed. He knew she was rather slim for her age, but somehow it hadn’t hit him just how petite she really was until he actually felt her in his hold.

Brushing the concern aside for the time being, Hopper laid her down on top of the cotton bedcovers gently. Planting a quick kiss on her strawberry lips, he dipped his head all the way down to her right breast and began sucking it into his mouth ravenously. It tasted like some luscious blend of caramel and honey and _her_ , and Hopper couldn’t get enough of it between his greedy lips.

His fingers all the while were trailing down the length of her barely-there stomach ( _“Damn she’s really thin,”_ Hopper couldn’t help but think to himself again as his hand began feeling up the lower half of her body), all the way down to her nether region, which he was pleasantly surprised to find completely shaved and baby-soft to the touch, just like the rest of her. _God, he was going to enjoy eating this one out._

“Oh, fuck!” The sudden contact between his thick fingers and her swollen clit made Gloria’s back arch off the bed ever-so-slightly, causing even more of her tit to plop into his mouth, for which he was _thoroughly_ grateful. She in turn was growing wetter and wetter by the second, and Hopper knew if he wanted a taste before she came he would have to move quickly.

Nipping at her erect cherry nipple one last time, he swiftly slid down the length of her body until his mouth was mere inches away from her pretty pink pussy. Flashing her one last cocky-as-hell smirk, Hopper bent his head down and began lapping hungrily at her glistening, silky-soft folds, relishing thoroughly  in the tangy taste of her juices, every last drop of which he intended to lick dry.

Gloria on her part seemed to have entered that astral plane she loved theorizing about so much, her eyes rolled back into her skull and her moans swiftly replaced by out-and-out _screams_ that Hopper _might_ have been worried about in another circumstance, were he not almost eager now for goddamn Toby Maitland to hear him _make her see God_.

As he continued his administrations Hopper felt Gloria grasp the patch of sheet by his head tightly between her fingers, making him grin like an idiot into her thoroughly-coated cunt. He knew she was close now, and he knew _exactly_ what he had to do to finally undo her entirely. Sucking her raging clit right into his mouth, he rolled it along his tongue like a fucking Life Saver until her screams echoed throughout the entire cottage and she was practically _squirting_ her own cum straight into his eager mouth.

Keeping his earlier promise to himself to lick every last inch of her clean, he finally extricated his tongue from between her labia and quickly positioned himself directly on top of her. Cradling her gently by the back of the head, he brought her still-gasping mouth up to his own, determined she would taste herself on his generous lips.

When he finally let her up to breathe all they could do was stare at each other unwaveringly for several intense moments, Gloria stroking his golden brown hair with a dove-like hand, looking up at him like no woman ever had.

“Goddammit Jim,” Hopper found himself grinning smugly at her use of his name now, “No one’s ever gotten me to scream like that before.”.

He beamed at her affectionately before bending down to place a small peck upon her sweat-beaded forehead. “The night’s still young, babydoll. I might just get you to scream even louder.”

He reached down to brush her lips with his own once more, tongue engaging hers in a languid dance inside her mouth as he attempted to make her wet enough again for him to enter with his rapidly re-growing load.

Thankfully Hopper didn’t have to wait terribly long on that front. After about five minutes of frenching each other senselessly on the bedcovers (during which time her hand had once again moved down to squeeze the hell outta that big, beefy ass), she broke the kiss to breathe out throatily into his ear, “I want you inside of me. _Now_.”

Rolling him off of her gently to reach over into her nightstand, she yanked out a small pink bottle of lube from her top drawer, squeezing a small shot into her left palm and rubbing it hurriedly between her fingers before reaching out to coat his member.

“Mmmmm,” Hopper just closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation, hoping he wouldn’t cum again before he had the chance to penetrate her pretty little pussy for the very first time.

When Gloria was satisfied she had done her job thoroughly, she shoved the bottle back into her bedside table before resuming her spot back down on the bed, waiting eagerly for him to fuck her.

“Ummm, do we need a condom?” He asked with a slight flush of his cheek. Gloria chortled.

“Welp, considering I’ve been on birth control for, what’s it been? Twelve years now, I think we’re pretty good.”

He nodded vaguely, trying not to think of all the potentially negative implications of that last sentence. Resuming his attentions to her heaving body beneath him, Hopper briefly considered teasing Gloria’s re-swollen clit again with his finger before _finally_ shoving his cock into that tight little hole she called a twat. But the way she _bit that goddamn lip_ as she lay there waiting impatiently for him to move convinced him he needed to get inside her and _fast_.

Taking himself in hand, he began to slowly penetrate her, the lube helping enormously in his endeavor to cram his thick, meaty cock inside her tight little twenty-three-year-old cunt. He began moving in a gentle, circular motion inside her, not quite sure how much she’d be able to handle from him right off the bat. Thankfully that question was laid to rest almost immediately.

“Harder, hon,” she breathed out huskily in-between moans. “ _Fuck me harder_.”

Hopper obliged, increasing the rhythm of his thrusts until the bedframe beneath them began to creak loudly. But Gloria needed more.

“Please Jim,” she wrapped her legs around him now, feet digging into his ass, desperately seeking increased friction between their closely entwined bodies. “Screw being a gentleman. _I want you to nail me into the goddamn mattress_.”

That one line was all it took to set Hopper off completely. Abandoning all sense of gentility just as she’d requested, he began humping her ever-loving brains out, thrusting into her with wild abandon until they were both moaning so riotously it wouldn’t have surprised him if the whole goddamn neighborhood ended up hearing.

“Yes! Yes! That’s it!” Gloria yelled out in between moans. “Just like that, just keep doing that to me honey. _Jackhammer me with that giant cock until I fucking cum_!”

Her words were inciting the animal in him; grabbing Gloria by her now half-undone tawny hair, Hopper yanked her head up to mere inches from his own, prompting a surprise yelp to escape from between her lips.

“ _Look at me when I fuck you_ ,” he ordered her harshly. Those sandalwood eyes of hers widened slightly at the savagery of his tone before burning even brighter with ardor. “Is this what you like, you little slut?” He shoved his tongue into her mouth crudely before pulling her back to face him once more. “ _Tell me you fucking like it.”_

“ _I fucking love it you magnificent bastard_!” she shouted with gusto into the night, taking Hopper aback somewhat initially before quickly spurring on the animal she’d unleashed inside him once more.

Grabbing her tightly around the waist, he flipped her without warning onto her belly (the loss of his cock inside her earned him a slight whine, but he fully planned to make it up to her and _quick_ ). Rolling off of the bed to where his faded blue jeans lay piled on the floor, he dug around in their wrinkled folds until he managed to unclip the set of spare handcuffs he’d been keeping in his back pocket.

Returning to where she lay waiting for him now, he grabbed her once again by the base of the skull, tilting her head up sharply and dangling the cuffs in front of her with a smug smile. “Didn’t I warn you about what happens to naughty little girls?”

Gloria could only roll her eyes back and moan ecstatically as he began pinning her arms down on the pillow in front of her, cuffing them tightly one at a time.

When he was satisfied Gloria’s hands were totally secure, he wasted no time re-entering her soaking wet cunt, this time from behind, those half-heart ass cheeks of hers bouncing rhythmically up and down with every thrust of his prick inside of her.

After several more minutes of pounding into her like a sex-starved dog, Hopper decided he missed the taste of those luscious lips on his own, and, once more gripping her firmly by the waist, yanked her up off the bed until she was resting squarely on top of her knees. Pressing her back firmly against his chest, he turned her head sharply until he had full access to her mouth, grasping it voraciously with his as he continued to thrust with the cock still buried deep inside her.

Gloria for her part had no intention of being kept submissive, catching his lower lip between her teeth and biting so hard she actually managed to draw blood. Hopper gasped slightly mid-grind, but Gloria quickly ran her tongue along the wound to soothe the sting, causing him to grunt even harder into her mouth than he'd already been.

“ _This girl is a goddamn WILDCAT!_ ” he marveled to himself just as she began bouncing up and down avidly on his grateful dick, meeting each and every one of his thrusts head on. “ _But I can be just as wild_.” Reaching around to grab her tit tightly in his sweaty palm, he began to squeeze firmly, just as sharply as she had bitten him, until it was all Gloria could do but break their kiss and throw her head back in unmitigated bliss.

“ _Yeah honey, yeah. I like that. Keep squeezing those fucking tits!”_

They were on the very edge now. Hopper could tell she was just as close to coming apart as he, and he was determined that she would cum first. Shaking off every reservation he possessed (animals never let taboos or painful memories stop them, after all) he whispered to her hoarsely in-between manic thrusts, “ _Who’s your fucking daddy, bitch?_ ”

She shouted the loudest she had all night at that. “ _You are Daddy! You are!_ ” Gloria began grinding herself even harder into him then, letting him know just how much she fucking meant it.

“ _Then be a good little girl and cum on Daddy’s dick_.”

It was the last thing he had to say to her before she was screaming and squirming violently beneath him, and it was all he could do to keep her propped up by the waist as her body keeled in on itself, totally spent. But Hopper wasn’t quite done with her yet.

“ _That’s a good little girl_ ,” he whispered more to try and finish himself off than to his lover currently struggling to catch her breath beneath him (he'd worry about what it meant that this WAS getting him off in the morning). But even in the throes of post-coital bliss Gloria was more than generous.

“ _Blow your piping hot cum into my tight little cunt, Daddy_.”

Once again, he obliged, grunting and groaning like a wild ape in the jungle as he filled her up with thick, white ropes of his stringy seed. Extricating themselves slowly from their rapidly cooling bodies, they both collapsed in utter exhaustion, her on top of the bed and him right on top _of her_ , planting soft kisses on her sweat-slicked shoulder in-between gasps.

Once they’d both finally managed to catch their breath, Hopper rolled off of her gently and went rummaging through his pants again, digging for a shiny gold key he used to free her from the cuffs he was pleased they’d made _most excellent_ use of. Settling himself back onto the bed, he silently pulled her up tightly against him, not quite ready for the contact between their bodies to come to an end just yet. Gloria on her part just smiled and rested her head on top of his still-heaving chest, placing soft, _sweet_ kisses around his nipple this time before drifting off into peaceful REM.

The last thought Hopper had before he himself collapsed into a long, deep slumber was that there was _absolutely no fucking way in hell_ this could end up being their one and only liaison _. He had to have her again._ And soon.

 _Sooner than he thought_ , it turned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Sorry for the delay guys: I had guests this week and couldn't risk them walking in on me typing up this shameless pile of smut for y’all ^_^ Thankfully the next one up shouldn’t take QUITE as long. In Ch. 4 I FINALLY start incorporating additional characters from the show itself (because PLOT). Also, plenty more down and dirty shenanigans to keep our Hop!Daddy Kinking needs satisfied *wink wonk*


	4. Watching and Waiting

_Watching and waiting…_

_For a friend to play with_

_Why have I been alone so long?_

_Mole, he is burrowing his way to the sunlight_

_He knows there’s someone there so strong_

_Cos here there’s lots of room for doing_

_The things you’ve always been denied_

_Look and gather all you want to_

_There’s no one here to stop you from trying_

_Soon you will see me_

_Cos I’ll be all around you_

_But where I come from I can’t tell_

_Watching and Waiting_

_For someone to understand me_

_I hope it won’t be very long…_

For the first time in nearly seven years, Hopper didn’t dream of Sara at all.

The months following her loss he’d learned to medicate himself into a mini-coma whenever he decided he couldn’t handle his nocturnal visits with her. Any evening he forgot to slip in a Flexeril with his end-of-the-day Schlitz was an evening he was guaranteed her ghost shadowing his dreams, haunting his unconscious mind for hours on end.

And the visions were always the same. He was chasing Sara through a large, desolate cemetery, she darting erratically between gravestones and underneath weeping willows and all the while bellowing out to him in a teasing voice that she _“Bet you can’t catch me!”_

He would try to follow of course, would run as fast and as hard as he knew how, always determined that _tonight_ would be the night he finally caught her. But whenever he got her cornered at the duck pond or trapped behind a tree, the image would dissolve just as his fingertips began brushing her baby blue coat, and he would find himself instead standing over her coffin in the rain. Her body now lying cold and lifeless as a group of faceless men lowered her _down,_ _down_ into the ground, beyond all hope of reach. For whatever reason he seemed incapable of making a sound, his screams for the men to stop coming out as nothing more than noiseless air. He could hear Diane crying out in agony somewhere at his side though, calling for him in-between sobs. Yet no matter how far he reached out his hand to touch her, she _too_ somehow eluded his grasp.

Last night had been an entirely different story, however. Though Hopper had been far too distracted by his lovely young companion to pop any pills before taking her to bed, his little Sara was nonetheless nowhere to be found the whole duration of his REM. No demigorgons, mindflayers, extraterrestrial vines, or giant glowing eggs either, to his surprise (for they too had been frequent guests in his dreams as of late). Last night there had only been tawny hair and hazel eyes and ruby red lips and a sultry voice whispering ‘Daddy’ in his ear _over and over_ again.

Yes, between the intensity of their liaison and an evening of genuinely restful sleep, it was without a doubt the best night Hopper had had since he couldn’t remember when.

And he _hated_ himself for it.

Hopper’s eyes fluttered open slowly, taking a while to adjust to the bright morning light filtering in through the wicker blinds in Gloria’s kitchen. When his vision finally cleared he turned to gaze fondly at said young woman still fast asleep beside him, her hair splayed across his chest in thick autumn waves.

He’d never regret spending the night with Gloria. She was _unbelievably_ sexy and exciting, and a fucking dynamo in the sack to boot. What’s more, he actually enjoyed spending time with her _outside_ of the bedroom as well (when was the last time he chatted up a girl for several hours before sealing the deal?). There was something about her personality that just complimented his own in a way he wasn’t really used to. And certainly wouldn’t have expected from one so much younger than he.

Hopper guessed it was because he’d never really met a woman he could 'play with' the way he played with her; not just sexually (although last night had been nothing short of _mind-blowing_ ), but also in the way they bantered together. She had more than enough spunk to match his own sarcastic wit, but was easy-tempered enough to just flirt without a truckload of expectations attached.  And yet that very quality somehow made him _less_ eager for whatever existed between them to end sooner rather than later, funny enough.

No, what he was experiencing right now was a rushing flood of shame flowing purely inward. As insane as the sex had been, he’d still taken things WAY too far with Gloria in the heat of passion, saying and doing things to her he had no doubt would have made him nothing short of mortified to face his real little girl had he actually encountered her in his dreams the night before.

He didn’t know if it had simply been his animal brain getting the better of him, or his subconscious trying to use the poor woman as some perverse outlet to combat his pain ( _it had felt so_ good _when she’d called him_ ‘Daddy’).

But he couldn’t cross that line anymore, plain and simple. It was totally inappropriate and frankly despicable given the context of their situation. He would treat Gloria like the proper young lady that she was, no more fetishizing her youth or playing sick, kinky games in the bedroom like that. He couldn’t let those lines get blurred again. He _wouldn’t_.

He would.

Hopper had lain there silently for several minutes, just listening to her steady breathing beside him, when his morning call of nature grew too urgent to ignore. Gently nudging her off his chest, he slid slowly off the bed and crept as quietly as he knew how to the stark-grey bathroom across the hall from them. He’d just gotten through washing himself up when he realized he’d unwittingly used up the last of the toilet paper on Gloria’s current roll.

“Oh, damn”, Hopper mouthed to himself irritatedly. Darting nervously around the bathroom, his eyes quickly fell on a small medicine cabinet hanging by some dangerously loose nails over that incessantly dripping sink. Yanking the white-wooden handle hard, Hopper had to blink several times to make sure he was actually seeing what he thought he saw, because it certainly wasn’t toilet paper.  

All three shelves were lined with bell jars of every different size and shape possible: tall, skinny containers on the far left, short and squat ones lined up on the right, square ones and ovicular ones mixed interchangeably on the top and bottom and a giant rectangle-shaped jar taking up the entire middle shelf.

But it was the occupants of the jars that instantly caught Hopper’s interest, for inside each one Gloria had constructed mini-forest habitats for _at least_ a dozen fireflies. Their tails all flashing the same lemon-lime, luminescent green every three seconds (“ _Like clockwork_ ,” Hopper noted to himself bemusedly after half a minute had passed), effectively acting as the sole source of light for the dank little cabinet they called home. Hopper reached out to take a particularly fat jar in his hand, his face scrunched up in intense curiosity as he stared unblinkingly at 14 tiny lightning bugs shining on and off…on and off all along the length of the glass. He knew everyone had to have a hobby, but this was kind of ‘different’, even for her.

“Morning, Sheriff,” Gloria greeted loudly from behind him. Hopper jumped and rushed to replace the jar back to its original spot in the cabinet, mortified to be caught looking through her things.

“Morning, beautiful,” he replied slyly, hoping the compliment would distract her from his blatant snooping. But she just shook her head and made her way over to where he stood by the sink, reaching over his shoulder to pick up the same glass container he’d been holding just moments ago.

“Impressive, aren’t they?” She smiled down at the jar’s inhabitants fondly; the steady flaring of their tails lighting up her already-beaming face. Hopper was relieved to find no trace of ire in her tone, and figured she couldn’t have minded his stumbling onto her little ‘house guests’ after all. “Pyractomena angulata, also known as the Say firefly“, Gloria stated matter-of-factly, “found mainly in the eastern half of the United States, including New York and good ol’ Indiana,” she turned briefly to wink at him here. “Honestly I can’t believe how many I’ve found around here the past two weeks. The front yard’s practically _crawling_ with them at night.”

Hopper breathed a small sigh of relief that she hadn’t bitten his head off before sidling right behind her to eye the bell jar from over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a bug enthusiast,” he jerked his head toward the flies, half of whom had taken to swirling about in a strange circular rotation in the center of the glass container. “I mean, pretty girl like you, I would have thought that sort of thing might be too icky for ya.”

Gloria smiled before returning the jar to the cabinet and carefully shutting the door behind it. “I make my living cleaning up all manner of bodily waste on a daily basis. Believe me, _nothing’s_ too icky for me,” she pointed out to him sardonically. “And besides,” Gloria began again much more softly now. “Every living creature deserves our consideration, Jim. _Even the creepy crawly ones_.” She began walking her fingers up lightly between his ribs at that, making him chuckle from the ticklish contact. 

“I’ll take your word for it, babydoll.” He grabbed the belt of that barely-there jade robe she’d clothed herself in once more, pulling her as close to his chest as possible and bending down to bury himself into that swan-like neck. 

“Such a charmer,” she couldn’t resist sassing him even as he planted butterfly kisses all along her porcelain jawline, ghosting her baby-soft flesh affectionately with the tresses of his beard.

“Do you have to leave right away?” she asked much more seriously now as he finally tore himself away from her. “Can I make you some breakfast before you go? My stuffed French toast is to _die_ for.” She licked her lips hungrily, but Hopper could tell it had little to do with the food. “Or, if you’d like, we can take a shower first and _then_ have a bite.”

His cock twitched manically at her suggestion, but then reality quickly set in. “Uh, no offense Gloria, but I don’t think that tub of yours can fit two people.” He nodded briefly to the over-glorified bucket on his left, but she just laughed and grinned up at him mischievously.

“Not in there, silly. The Maitlands are at Six Flags for the weekend, and I happen to know for a fact they have a double walk-in on the second floor of that gi-normous mansion of theirs.”

Hopper’s eyes grew wide at her implication. “Sneak into the Maitlands’ place? _Really_?” He shook his head with a small snigger. “Should I be concerned by your complete _lack_ of reservation when it comes to breaking the law? Or that you seem determined to get _me_ to break it right along with you?”

Gloria rolled her eyes at him dramatically. “ _I’m_ allowed in the house whenever I like, Sheriff, so it wouldn’t actually be ‘breaking the law’. And besides, considering how often dearest _Toby_ invites me up there to shower with him, technically speaking I _am_ permitted to use it.”

Hopper’s face fell at that. “You shouldn’t have to take that from him, Gloria,” he whispered to her quietly, wanting to track down Toby Maitland and pummel him into the ground now more than ever. “That’s harassment. He has no right to treat you that way.”

Something in her eyes grew sad for a moment, _only_ a moment, before she forced a small smile back onto those ruby lips and shrugged. “I’ve been dealing with creeps like him for years, Jim. In some cases, _a lot_ worse. I survived all of them, I’ll survive him too.”

He nodded silently, a large part of him wanting to argue the point that she shouldn’t have to ‘survive’ anyone, but not wanting to risk a repeat of their confrontation from the night before. Instead, he decided if he couldn’t exact justice against the vile creep on her behalf, the very least he could do was get revenge.

“So what was that about a double walk-in, babydoll?”

Steaming hot liquid rained down on them with the slightest tap of her finger on the silver metal water dial. Gloria had been right that the walk-in was more than roomy enough for the pair of them (especially considering her diminutive size), but what she had _not_ mentioned was that the showerhead itself was actually removable, and could be adjusted to a ‘massage’ pressure setting if you twisted it _just_ the right way along the top.

Needless to say Hopper was already busy plotting all the ways he was going to use said device to make her see God again, but before he could put his plan into action she had grabbed the small orange loofah hanging precariously off the leftmost shower door. Lathering it up with some shiny blue body gel he sincerely hoped did not belong to _goddamn Toby Maitland_ , Gloria began rubbing down the entire length of his body with it. Starting with his heaving chest (his nipples loved how generous she was in her attentions to them) and then working her way all the way down to his aching cock, sliding it back and forth, over and around until she reached his equally tender ball sack. Her tongue between her teeth, she proceeded to dig ever-so-gently between both testes with the spongy folds of the loofah, the friction in that spot quickly setting his entire body on fire.

“FUCK, GLORIA!” Hopper grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and bit into it to try and silence the raging groans gurgling up from the back of his throat. It didn’t take him more than another ten seconds to cum, and, finally extricating his mouth from her neck, reached up to grab the pulsating shower head from its perch above them. Twisting it until he hit just the right setting, Hopper gripped her by the upper arm and brought it raining directly over her breasts, relishing in the way those tear-shaped tits of hers glistened underneath the pouring water. After a few more glorious seconds he began moving the head slowly down the length of her tiny waist, only stopping when he finally reached that baby-soft pussy of hers. Gloria’s knees shook like mad as the piping hot water made contact with her cunt, and Hopper had to tighten his grip on her arm lest she slip on the soap-sud laden shower floor beneath them.

“Oh fuck, Daddy, you’re so good to your baby girl!” Gloria moaned emphatically as he hovered the spray directly over her engorged clit.

Hopper grimaced somewhat; he was still attempting to keep his promise to himself from earlier that morning, but she certainly wasn’t making it very easy on him.

“Yeah, that’s right babydoll. I know just how much you like that…” He muttered to her huskily, but all the while wishing he could whisper far more _filthier_ things into those alabaster ears.  

“Oh yeah Daddy!” She kept shouting it over and over again as she came hard right on top of the shower head. His cock was throbbing mercilessly at him once more, and try as he might to deny it, her words were in large part responsible for the swift reemergence of his erection. He was _dying_ to indulge in those dark fantasies one more time…

Determined to distract himself from the dangerous path his thoughts were leading him down, Hopper hoisted Gloria up without warning and pinned her hard against the tile wall, his grasp on her precarious due to the slipperiness of both their bodies. Prompting her to wrap her legs tightly around his waist, he began thrusting into her frenziedly as soon as he was certain she was well-secured beneath him.

“Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh…keep pounding into me like that, Daddy. _Please_.”     

He buried his tongue in her mouth to try and keep her from saying another word, knowing he was on the verge of snapping and probably would if he let her keep at it. So he kissed her long, soft, and deep; timing the strokes of his tongue with every thrust into her slippery cunt.

But Gloria was not to be deterred.

“ _Please, Daddy, please_!” she began again after breaking the kiss roughly a minute later. “I’ve been such a good little girl, Daddy. Keep hammering me with that massive cock!”

Aaaaaand that was all she wrote for him.

“ _You want this cock, baby girl_?” He leaned his head in until it was nudged right up against hers, baby blue eyes staring down intensely into her hazel ones. “ _You want Daddy to make you cum with this fucking cock?_ ”

“ _Yesssss, pleaaaase_ ,” Gloria moaned softly before grasping his mouth again with her own, sucking all of the moisture out of his bottom lip before releasing him once more. “Be a good Daddy and make your little girl cum.”

Hopper smiled down at her fiendishly. “Alright baby girl; but you gotta promise to hold onto Daddy tight. It’s gonna be a _slippery_ ride.”

Reaching his left hand over to grab her by the ass cheeks, he hoisted her up even higher along the wall until she was looking down on _him_ now. Tilting his groin slightly north, he began pounding into her at an upward angle so that his wide, mushroom tip hit directly under her clit with every last manic thrust.

Gloria leaned her head back on a patch of tile and began to moan wildly now, all the while adjusting her position slightly around his waist, wanting more freedom to slide up and down his thoroughly soaped-up body with her own.

“Yeah, that’s right, baby girl. _Keep playing slip and slide on Daddy’s dick._ I know you want to.”

Hopper closed his eyes and began breathing harshly through his nose, the strain of hoisting her up and thrusting at such a difficult angle inevitably starting to wind him. But he didn’t care: _he’d never had sex like this before_ in his life and fuck it all to hell if he didn’t make it last as long as he could.

They managed to keep at it for a full ten minutes, their screams intermingling and echoing off the shower walls in a cacophony of sound he knew would leave his ears ringing for hours. Hopper actually had to steady himself with a hand pressed hard against the wall as he came, banging into it repeatedly with his fist as the last of his seed spilled inside her.

Slowly lowering her back down onto the shower floor, he wrapped her damp body in his arms and brought her head to rest gently on top of his shoulder. His emotions were once again caught between immensely impressed with the _mind-blowing sex_ they’d just had to thoroughly guilty for using her in some effed-up fantasy he had no excuses for. He seemed unable to help himself somehow whenever they started getting into it like that…

Then again, this time _Gloria_ had been the one to instigate all the dirty talk, which meant she too must be enjoying the hell outta their little ‘roleplay’, right? _So who the fuck was he actually hurting here?_

Once they’d finally dried off and dressed (Gloria assured Hop she’d make up some cockamamie excuse about losing Toby’s favorite polo in the laundry, which made him crow out loud with glee), she re-extended her offer to cook him breakfast before he had to depart for home. She had looked so adorably hopeful, bouncing up and down on the balls of her heels in the tiny pink sundress she’d slipped on after showering, and Hopper had to admit he was _starving_ after two rounds of the greatest sex of his life.

So they walked hand-in-hand down to the Maitlands’ kitchenette, which was about 3 times the size of the itty bitty one Gloria had back at the shack she called a home. She hadn’t been lying when she said her French toast was to die for, Hopper indulging in two more helpings as they sat around the dining room table in comfortable silence. He never took his eyes off her once though as she danced her fork around her plate and up to her mouth with unwavering grace. In everything she did, it seemed, she never lost her poise. 

All too soon it was time for their magical Saturday morning to come to its inevitable end. Gloria had a ton of errands to run for the twins and Hopper had his regularly scheduled check-up of Mirkwood (and what may or may not be hiding _in_ Mirkwood) to get around to.

He gave Gloria one last smoldering kiss before he left, slipping his phone number into her pocket and enjoining her to call him as soon as she was ready to set up round 3. He had thought briefly about asking for her number instead, but Hopper wasn’t exactly _that_ experienced asking for second dates, so he decided it was best to leave the ball in her court. She nuzzled him sweetly on his hairy cheek and told him to drive safe, which for reasons he couldn’t define made him grin like a fucking idiot as he commenced the trek back down the block to his blazer.

He whistled like a school boy the whole drive up to the lake, a part of him actually hoping he’d find a  message from her already waiting for him by the time he arrived home. But there was no such luck. As an unwelcome stab of disappointment began to hit, Hopper quickly admonished himself for being so silly. _Of course_ she wouldn’t call him that soon, the poor girl didn’t want to make herself look _desperate_ (he highly doubted she ever could be though, remembering with distaste all the men oogling her at _Munden’s_ as she sang for them the night before).

So Hopper poured himself a Schlitz, content with the thought that she’d probably call him tomorrow morning, maybe set something up for Sunday night at the bar.  

Except she didn’t call Sunday.

Or Monday.

Or Tuesday.

_Or the whole goddamn week._

Hopper was slumped over at his desk the following Friday afternoon, the Xanax he took twenty minutes ago to calm his thoroughly rattled mood _finally_ kicking in. This had been a particularly trying day, having spent a large part of it giving the same placating statement over and over again to a particularly manic Murray Bauman, who was apparently losing his shit over rumors of illicit activity continuing to occur underground at the “officially” closed-down Hawkins National Laboratory ( _If only he knew_ , Hopper thought to himself with a small shake of the head). It had seemed the conspiracy theorist’s journalistic curiosity continued to blind him to the living hell he typically made Hopper’s already stress-fueled life, as he continued to press him for any info he could provide on former Lab employees and (more specifically) the whereabouts of Dr. Sam Owens’ over the past year, which of course was _none_.

“I have had no correspondence with Dr. Owens for several months, therefore I have nothing to say at the present time.” Hopper must have repeated the exact same ~~lie~~ sentence to the man pontificating incessantly across from him  _at least_ ten times, but it seemed No-Shit Sherlock over there just didn’t give a rat's ass. He just kept pushing Hopper's buttons _over and over again_ until he finally snapped and threw him unceremoniously out of the station. Let the old sleaze print that he’d been hostile; he was beyond giving a flying fuck at this point.

As if all of that hadn’t been bad enough, he’d just called back home to check his messages for the 6th time that day, and _still_ no hint of a phone call from Gloria. It was a massive blow to his ego, to be sure; the sex had been so damn good for him, and it was hard to believe any girl could fake the intensity of her orgasm _that well_. The only other alternative Hopper could come up with was that she too regretted their less-than-kosher little bout of ‘roleplay’ and wanted nothing more to do with it or him going forward. She must think him some disgusting pig for ever initiating it with her in the first place, meaning he’d effectively ruined everything between them by refusing to reign himself in. If he’d just listened to his conscience the second time they’d had sex…

Some part of him, a very large part in fact, wanted to track her down at the middle school parking lot Monday morning as she dropped off the twins for class. Confront her head-on for her failure to reach out to him, get himself the confirmation he needed that she couldn’t handle the turn their sexual relationship had taken and then (as much as the thought killed him), he’d leave her alone for good. _But he had to know for sure_ that was where he went wrong. He had to know if once again he screwed up the only decent thing left in his life by giving into his darker instincts…

Just then the blaring ring of his desk phone broke him out of his troubled musings, and effectively ruined any chance he’d have of konking out at his desk like he planned. Godfuckingdammit.

“What is it?” Hopper growled a little more grumpily into the receiver than he’d actually meant.

“Hello? Chief Hopper?” The crackly pubescent voice of Will Byers greeted him anxiously on the other side of the line.

“Oh, hey Will,” Hopper addressed the boy much more softly this time. “Sorry ‘bout that, didn’t realize it was you. What’s up? You alright today buddy, or—?”

“Oh yeah yeah, I’m fine. Um listen, I’m really sorry to bother you at work and everything, but…you know how you’re always telling me and the guys to keep an eye out for anything suspicious around town? Just in case? ” he blurted the last part out rapidly, as if ripping off a particularly gluey band-aid.

“Yeah…” Hopper did _not_ like the sound of where this was headed; God knows he’d put out _enough_ proverbial fires around this town the past two years to last him a lifetime.

“Well, Max and Eleven were hanging out on Wisteria Way earlier, and, uh,” Will paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t really know how to explain it, Sir, except to show you. Any chance you can meet us downtown at _The Custard Creamery_? All us kids are huddled up here trying to figure out what to do next.”

Hopper rubbed his eyelids tiredly and heaved a deep sigh before finally acquiescing. “Yeah, okay kid. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

Banging the phone back down onto its cradle, he stood up quickly from his desk and barked at Flo to man the fort while he went out for a donut run. Jangling the keys to his blazer off the little wooden hook in the kitchen, Hopper barreled out the station door in a huff, mentally preparing himself for whatever fresh new hell was about to be introduced into his life.

He actually managed to make it to the ice cream shop in _ten_ minutes, his racing thoughts distracting him from minding the speed limit ( _good thing he was a cop_ ). He crossed the parking lot in several quick strides before entering the uncomfortably frosty interior of the parlor, eyes skimming each individual booth for his intended companions' current hiding spot.

It didn’t take him long to spot the teenagers in question, as they were all seated together at the corner table by the door, heads huddled together, whispering frantically at each other all at the same damn time.

“Oh no, nothing attention-drawing about _that_.” Hopper rolled his eyes slightly before evening out his expression again, knowing from experience it would do no good to take his frustration out on the kids right now.

“Hey guys.” Five pairs of heads rose up from the metal table between them at his salutation. The only hold-out was (of course) his not-so-little Jane, who was staring pointedly out the window and doing her very best to ignore his existence, as she had the past several months. Ever since--

_"No," Hopper shook himself firmly. "No I can't think about that now. I'll think about it later, when I'm alone..."_

“Hi, Chief.” Will was the first to speak up, scooting over in his seat on the left and nudging Mike to do the same next to him so that Hopper could have some room at the booth. “Thanks for coming on such short notice."

“S’no problem,” Hopper muttered shortly while taking his spot next to Will. He waited for someone to begin explaining what the hell was going on now, but the kids just kept looking to each other blankly, as if each daring the other to commence their impromptu meeting.

“Sooooo, somebody here want to tell me why I just drove all the way out to this giant freezer, anyhow?” Hopper finally inquired, wrapping his arms around himself irritably as the chill of the parlor began settling into his skin and bones.

Max cleared her throat in the seat across from him and spoke up. “Alright so, I don’t know how much Will told you, but El and I were hanging out on Wisteria Way around two o’clock today. I was trying to teach her how to roller skate without ‘superpowers’ and everything, but five minutes into it and she starts bleeding from her nose again. But like, _really really_ bad this time.” Max’s voice softened somewhat, and she began shifting in her chair uncomfortably. “It was _all over her shirt_ by the time she’d finally stopped.”

Hopper turned an eye back to his Jane now, currently sitting dead-silent next to Mike, eyes still glued out the window, but focused on what, he couldn’t tell. Max had apparently loaned her a shirt of her own (he highly doubted Jane had any idea who _Motley Crue_ were) and helped her clean herself up, because she certainly appeared perfectly fine now. Well, _as fine as she could be in his presence, as of late._

“So I get her on the ground, cause I read somewhere you’re supposed to tilt their heads up when they’re losing a lot of blood like that,” Max continued explanatorily, “But then she starts breathing real hard and pointing at this gray rock thingy in Mrs. Kludetzsky’s yard. And I’m thinking maybe there’s some thessagorgon spawn-thingamajig hiding under there or whatever, so I go running to kick it over and—“ Hopper’s eyes grew furious now, but Max quickly threw her arms in the air placatingly. “Relax, Chief. I carry a ten inch switchblade in my back pocket at all times; I woulda stabbed the sucker dead before it even knew what hit ‘em,” she stated with absolute confidence. “But it doesn’t even matter ‘cause there was no alien hiding under the rock anyhow. Although…” and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat again here, “we think it might be from the, you know—“ she leaned over then and whispered so quietly she was practically just mouthing the words, “Upside Down.”

Max dug deep into her jacket pocket then and yanked out a small plastic bag. Inside was a dull gray stone about the size of Hopper’s fist, a perfectly ordinary looking rock, by Hopper’s reckoning. But when she flipped the bag over to place it in his hand, Hopper saw that dug deep into its bottom half was the strangest formation of crystals he’d ever seen. It was dark green in hue yet oddly luminescent, glowing even as it sat in the middle of his palm (he had a feeling the thing would probably light up like a goddamn neon sign when night fell though). The shards themselves would have almost been teeth-like in their pointiness had they not all not been aiming every which way at once. Well, all except for one perfectly straight shard smack-dab in the middle of the rock, which was slightly taller than the rest and broke out into a series of even tinier, _needle-like_ crystals all along its frame. Like thorns on the stem of a freshly-bloomed rose.

The only thing about the crystal that _did_ look remotely familiar to him was a thick coating of translucent slime that bathed every last shard, even dripping down into a small puddle of ooze deep inside the bag itself. Some sort of extraterrestrial excrement, Owens had explained when he’d brought him a bottle-full collected from a patch of woods on the outskirts of town. What it meant that the plasm now appeared as part of this strange crystal formation, Hopper could only begin to guess.

He slowly turned the befuddling object in his hand once more (accidentally pricking his thumb twice against the spiky shards) before mustering the courage to address the girl three seats down from him. “Jane, have you ever seen anything like this before?” His one-time daughter finally broke her gaze from the window to pay attention to him properly now. “Like when you were stuck in the Upside Down, or at the Lab maybe?” Hopper elaborated more clearly.

Eleven shook her head. “No…but I know that it isn’t safe. I can _feel_ it.” She quieted again then, eyes turning downcast to her lap. Hopper got the sense that she was feeling uncharacteristically helpless in this situation, her unfamiliarity with the thing making her unable to guide them all to a solution as she typically did given enough time. _He could more than relate to the feeling._

He let out a long, slow breath as it became quite clear that was going to be the extent of their interaction for the rest of this meeting. “Alrighty then, anybody else here see anything like this around town lately?”

“Well,” Dustin finally piped up in the seat next to Max. “I _might_ have seen something like it at Julie Dunbar’s Memorial Day party a couple of weeks ago. I mean, I know I saw _something_ super green and glowy by her doghouse that night, but at the time I just thought it was some _really horny_ fireflies getting it on, so…”

“Dude!” Lucas facepalmed in embarrassment before reaching over to whack Dustin across the chest. “Not in front of the Chief!”

“Well he _asked_!”

“TMI, man. _T-M-I_.”

Hopper might have been amused at their banter had the words ‘firefly’ and ‘horny’ not brought memories of Gloria and their last morning together rushing back into his skull, making him feel even more moody and depressed than he already had been. Fortunately Mike took this opportunity to interrupt his friends’ current squabble, thankfully breaking Hop from his depressed musings once more.

“So, what do you think we should do about it Chief?” the boy inquired pragmatically. “I mean, should we go digging up these crystal thingys around town, in case the aliens are trying to poison the soil or something? I mean, I’m pretty sure I saw Martians use a similar tactic in a movie once.”

“Which one, that stupid Tomato-Monster movie?” Max interrupted with a massive eye roll.

“Shut up, Max.  _Attack of the Killer Tomatoes_ is a classic. And you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Bite me, Mike.”

“ _Kids_ ,” Hopper closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “ _Calm down please_. And _you_   _lot_ aren't going to do a damn thing,” he lifted his pointy finger and moved it between all six of them in turn. “I’ll reach out to Owens and see if he knows anything about it. If you _do_ see any more of these things, _do not_ touch them again. For all we know Mike’s right and they _are_ poisonous.”

Everyone turned to look at Max again now, concern etched in each of their expressions, but she just sighed and rolled her eyes all over again. “Relax people; I picked it up with a Kleenex. I wasn’t born yesterday, ya know.”

Good ol’ Max. Hopper could usually rely on her to be the sane gal of the group. Not that life in Hawkins left much room for sanity anymore.

“Oh crap!” Will interrupted sharply, eyes fixed exasperatedly on his watch. “I just remembered I have to get home before Mom and Jonathan do. It’s my turn to feed the dog." Will hopped out of the booth and slung his dark blue Darth Vader backpack over his shoulder, his expression somber as he turned back to Hopper one last time.

“Be careful around Owens, Chief. He can be all Mr. Friendly Sunshine when it suits him, but he’s just as ambitious as Brenner was. _If not even more_. ”

Hopper bowed his head concurrently. “Don’t worry, kid. Ain’t no one pulling the lid on old Hopper’s eyes.”

Will offered a grim smile in response. “See you at home, El.” He nodded briefly in Eleven’s direction before making his way out of the shop.

Hopper put his face in his hands and sighed. Maybe it was really for the best that Gloria was blowing him off after all. It didn’t seem right to drag her into his life when crazy shit like this kept happening every couple of months. And he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her as a consequence for associating with him. From what he could tell, she’d been hurt enough already…  

“I gotta go to the john,” he announced to the remaining group seated around him before taking his leave of the booth. “Keep that rock in your pocket where no one can see. And for God’s sake _do not tell anybody outside of this shop about it_ whose names aren’t Joyce, Jonathan, Steve, or Nancy. Do I make myself clear?”

Max just nodded silently, once again shooting him that _“Whaddya think, I’m stupid?”_ look she practically had patented by now. Hopper quickly crossed the shop to the Men’s Room, cursing the day he decided to move back to Hawkins, Indiana.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Out in the parking lot Will had bee-lined for his BMX, currently struggling to get it unclipped from the stainless steel U-Lock his mother had insisted he install several months ago. Too many loonies around town had kept stealing his bike just to offer it back up for reward, looking for any excuse to meet the closest thing to a celebrity Hawkins could boast for the time being. So distracted was he trying to pry the tiny bronze key free from where it lay caught in the lock that he failed to notice the spritely young woman approaching rapidly from behind.

“Hello there,” the woman, sporting a pleated, banana miniskirt and electric pink sunglasses greeted Will with a small wave. “You might want to consider jiggling the key around a bit first. I had a _Kryptonite_ myself back in college, they’re the _worst_.”

It took Will a second to absorb what she’d said (he was _always_ super wary about strangers approaching him now). But once her suggestion finally dawned on him he snapped his head back down to the lock, jiggling the key back and forth before turning it counterclockwise once more. To his relief the latch instantly sprang open, freeing his bike at last, just as the woman had said it would. “Oh wow, thanks a lot, Lady,” Will smiled at her appreciatively. “I’ll have to remember that for next time.”

“My pleasure,” she replied kindly. “You must be Will Byers. The Maitland twins told me all about you.” She jerked her head in the direction of a sandy-haired boy and girl, both stretched out lazily on an old wooden bench and licking triple scoop vanilla ice cream cones practically _buried_ under mountains of rainbow sprinkles. Will’s smile faded slightly as he grew suspicious once more. Typically when meeting people already familiar with him, he was assaulted with an endless barrage of questions about his disappearance two years’ back, whether he was really kidnapped by that shady old man from the Lab, had he ever been dead after all?, etc.

But to his immense surprise (and relief), the woman chose not to pursue that line of questioning at all. “They mentioned you were something of a science whiz back when you were still at the middle school with them. VP of the AV club and all that,” she stated with the air of one clearly impressed. “Little Stefanie over there is struggling a lot in physics and chem. I’ve been talking to her parents about maybe getting her some tutoring to help improve her grades. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in an after-school gig like that?”

Will lit up at the opportunity. “Oh yeah, I could really use the extra cash this summer. And I’m totally free Tuesday and Friday afternoons right now.”

“Awesome.” The woman clapped her hands together eagerly. “My name’s Gloria by the way, I’m the Maitlands’ new nanny. It’s very nice to meet you.” She extended a thin, porcelain arm which Will shook enthusiastically, relieved to have been so wrong about her.

“Yeah, I figured you must be new around here. Small town like this, pretty sure I would have seen you somewhere before. How are you liking Hawkins so far?”

Before she could answer a pair of shouts came echoing sharply towards them.

“Will! Will!” Mike was waving his hands like a mad man trying to catch his friend’s attention as he, Lucas, Dustin, and Max all came barreling down the parking lot. “We got Nancy on the walkie, you’ll never guess what she and Steve—” The pack all stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the stunning young woman standing there beside Will. The boys began shifting nervously where they stood, offering her shy smiles behind his back, but Max just flat-out ignored her.

“Will, we need to get back to Mike’s house STAT. Nancy just radioed him from the Harrington place. Three guesses what she found out in the woods there,” she explained with wide, telling eyes.

“Um, yeah, okay, just give me a minute.” Will turned back to Gloria, not wanting to be rude. “Uhhh, these are my friends Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max.” He jerked his head toward his friends as way of introduction. “Guys this is Gloria, she’s the Maitlands’ new nanny.”

Gloria waved politely at the pack of teens, the boys all tittering nervously back at her while Max just gave her an obligatory nod.

“I was just speaking to Will about possibly doing some tutoring work for little Stefanie over there. She’s been having a hard time in a few of her science classes; I’d really hate to see her fail such an important subject.”

“Very wise.” Dustin took the opportunity to compliment her slyly. “A failure to understand science is a failure to understand the basic mechanisms of life, after all.”

“You see,” Gloria turned to where the twins were still stretched out on the wooden bench. “That’s pretty much what I keep trying to tell them. Not that anyone ever listens to me,” she heaved an overdramatic sigh, which made the boys break out into small chuckles, but the twins just stared her down moodily.

“Well, you know, technically speaking _I’m_ better at chem than Will is,” Dustin offered with a smug smile. If looks could kill the one Will shot him now would have thrown daggers.

“Dude, shut up!” He reached over to shove his friend hard in the chest.

“Well it’s _true_.”

“If we’re going to get ‘technical’ I’m the only one here who got straight ‘A’s’ in Theoretical Physics,” Lucas butted in sharply.

“Yeah but you got a B- on Mrs. Gerber’s last pop quiz,” Mike couldn’t resist pointing out.

“Yeah, well I call dibs!” Lucas countered with a heavy stamp of his foot.  

“No, _I_ call dibs,” Dustin insisted even more loudly.

“Hey, _I_ met her first!” Will began to whine in frustration. “And in case you guys hadn’t noticed she just offered _me_ the job, not any of you.”

“I’m sure we can work something out with all of you.” Gloria raised her hands placatingly, trying hard not to laugh as the boys continued quarreling amongst themselves. “Maybe two of you can come in one week, and the other two the next?”

The boys all nodded quietly, none of them really liking that idea but all figuring it was better than nothing. Max meanwhile was pacing around impatiently in the background, muttering “ _Fucking Boys!”_ and a slew of other curses as she waited for them to finish up their conversation with this unwelcome stranger.

Just then a mop of curly chocolate hair seemingly appeared out of nowhere next to Mike. Gloria’s eyes flashed as they fixed on Eleven for the very first time, staring at the girl intently as she proceeded to wrap a protective arm around her boyfriend. “And who is this lovely young lady?” she inquired breathily, her inflection laced with repressed curiosity. “Your sister…perhaps?” she turned her hazel eyes briefly to Will before re-affixing them back to the girl’s dark brown ones.

“Oh, that’s El.” Will explained politely. “And yeah, _kinda_. She’s my foster sister. My Mom took her in a few months ago. We’ve been thick as thieves ever since.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, El.” Gloria extended a dove-like hand out to the girl, gaze growing more intense with every passing second. El on her part took the woman’s fingers slowly between her own, not saying a word in response but eyes never leaving hers for an instant. They stared at each other unwaveringly for several long moments before Stef began to whine about Paulie dripping chocolate sauce on her coin purse, forcing Gloria to finally peel her gaze away with reluctance.

“Well, it was very lovely meeting all of you. I’ll talk to Mrs. Maitland tonight about that tutoring gig and have her call your Moms to set it all up. I know the standard rate is twenty-five dollars, but I’ll try and get ‘em to bump it up to thirty,” she promised with a small wink, making Lucas and Dustin sigh stupidly as they watched her stroll away. Max just rolled her eyes and hopped aggressively onto her skateboard.

“I’ll meet you all at Mike’s place, once you guys finally shove your eyeballs back inside your skulls.”

Will shot her a knowing look before pedaling away on his BMX, but the rest of the group barely heard her, continuing to stare at the dazzling young woman as Max rolled off in a giant huff. But even after the boys had gotten their fill and prepared to head back to Mike’s place for the night, the girl called ‘El’ just kept staring on after her. Watching and waiting…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was sitting on the wooden bench just outside when Hopper caught sight of her in the parking lot through the stall window. Stef and Paulie Maitland were throwing a loud and angry hissy fit at her as she attempted to wipe vanilla ice cream drippings from between their sticky fingers. He rushed back out into the bathroom to wash his hands, hoping if he was fast enough he could manage to catch her before she and the twins took off. A small part of him wondered if he was being way too selfish right now, considering what the kids had just shared with him and knowing how fucked up his life was bound to be for a very long time. But then, he figured, maybe it was actually to Gloria’s _benefit_ that he kept her close, or at least tried to. After all, who knows what could happen to the new girl in a town like this without someone looking out for her?

Bolting through the shop and out the door without as much as a second look, he caught her just as she was buckling up the little twin terrors in the back of her cherry red minivan. He let out a long, low whistle from behind, attempting to catch Gloria's attention without being too conspicuous. She whipped her head around sharply at the noise, her mouth settling into a sheepish grin at the sight of him standing just outside the parlor entrance.

Turning back to utter something briefly to the twins, Gloria slid the minivan door shut before walking her way over to him, arms wrapped around herself somewhat shyly.

“Afternoon, Sheriff,” she greeted him with an anxious smile.

“Afternoon, Ms. De Falco,” he replied in a cool, clipped tone. He bandied around for several seconds trying to think of something clever to say, but then finally decided to just cut to the chase. “You never called.”

Gloria appeared to wilt even more into herself at that, embarrassment etched all over her features. “I know, I’ve been a complete shit this week, I’m really sorry Jim.” She brought her hand up to her face, tilting her glasses up off of her eyes to rub the left one briefly. Despite the thick patch of concealer she’d applied meticulously along the bottom lid, Hopper’s keen vision could nonetheless spot the slightest trace of a dark spot peeking out unwanted beneath.

His stance toward her softened entirely then. He should have realized something must have been up with the poor girl, for heaven’s sakes…

“It’s just been a crazy past few days for me,” she finally began to explain apologetically. “Poor Paulie caught the mumps, and guess who had to stay up with him the last five nights in a row so his Mom could get her ‘beauty sleep’?” She sighed and began massaging her eye tiredly again. “I kept meaning to call, but every time I got a second of free time to myself, I just fell asleep.” As if on cue she yawned slightly into the hand currently resting upon her cheek. “Look, how ‘bout you let me make it up to you, hmm? Come over to my place tomorrow for dinner. _I’ll make you anything you li-ike_ ,” she offered him sweetly in a sing-song voice.

Hopper smiled politely at her suggestion, but felt compelled to make up for his frosty behavior from before. “Tell you what: I think you’ve been through enough this week without me making you whip up a whole big meal. How about I come pick you up tomorrow night around eight, and we go grab a bite at this little Mexican joint right by _Munden’s_. We can even stop by the bar afterwards, if you want. And if you’d _really_ like to make it up to me, you’ll let me coax you back on stage again.” He waggled his eyebrows at her mischievously, causing her to break out in that wind-chimey giggle he found he’d missed enormously the past several days.

“That all sounds wonderful, Jim. Although _this_ time I think I’d like to perform a duet…” She poked him in the chest playfully, making him laugh right along with her now.

“Well, it’s not usually my thing, but how can I say no to _that_ face?” He nipped her chin sweetly between his thumb and index finger, pleased as punch that what they had between them (whatever the fuck it actually _was_ at this point) hadn't come to its end just yet. "It's a date."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> …And here is where the plot begins to thicken ladies and gents!
> 
> On that note, the lyrics at the beginning of this chapter are taken from the song “Watching and Waiting” (duh) by the Moody Blues, and there are A LOT of clues hidden in it that point to where I’m taking this story moving forward. Sooooo you might want to go back and re-read them very carefully my friends, just a suggestion ;)
> 
> Beyond all that though I REALLY hope I did a descent job writing the kids. I tried super hard to match the boys’ and Eleven’s basic personalities and what I think Max is going to be like based on spoilers and such, but interpretation can be a tricky thing. Expect to see a lot more of them going forward though, and some of our other faves should be showing up fairly soon as well *hint hint*


	5. Helpless to Stop It

“Damn. Too old.” Hopper yanked the frayed black polo over his head, tossing it onto the ever-growing pile of discarded clothing currently ruminating on his bedroom floor. He’d already tried on _seven_ different shirts in the last forty-five minutes, trying to find one snazzy enough to get Gloria’s juices flowing during their date that night. Never mind WHY he felt so compelled to look his absolute best for her; he couldn’t even piece that little nugget together for himself right now. It’s not like she was his girlfriend, or that what they had between them was anything but a fling that would probably last a couple of months at best (although the thought brought him no contentment at all). All he knew was that tonight he wanted to look as handsome to her as possible, even if it meant his laundry hamper tripling in size for the week.

After about another fifteen minutes of trying on and tossing aside various dress shirts that’d been lying around his room untouched for six long years, Hopper _finally_ settled on a navy cotton mesh he was pretty sure he’d only worn once before in his life. He fished out his finest fedora from the very back of the closet and then, spraying some Old Spice on his neck and under his arm pits, decided he was ready to head out and impress his lady. Fishing the keys to his blazer out of his _Levi’s_ back pocket, he barreled his way out of the trailer on the balls of his feet, anxious to spend time with her after a week apart.

Gloria was already waiting for him in the Maitlands’ front yard by the time Hopper finally arrived, swaying back and forth on a rickety old swing hanging precariously from the Maitland’s lone oak tree.  Somehow she looked _more_ impossibly beautiful than ever; auburn hair flowing down in a cascade of curls around that diamond-shaped face, little red cocktail dress highlighting all the best parts of her body (to Hopper’s immense delight).

Swaggering up slyly to where she sat perched on the swing, Hopper grabbed the rope knot closest to him as leverage before leaning over ever-so-slightly to whisper in her ear, “Did it hurt when you fell from the astral plane baby? Cause _you_ look like an angel.”

Gloria snorted loudly. “I don’t think _anything_ could be more painful than that pick-up line, but I appreciate your concern. _And_ the compliment. ”

He chuckled at her sass. This girl was practically MADE for him. Too bad people had to be so stupid when it came to age differences _. And also that his life was one massive, perpetual clusterfuck that made settling down pretty much impossible, anyway_.

“I take it the Maitlands’ aren’t home tonight…” Hopper glanced somewhat apprehensively at the giant white colonial behind them, hoping they weren’t being watched even as he spoke.

But Gloria quickly put his fears to bed. “Nah, Toby and Martha went to go check out that new Bond flick, and the kids are sleeping over at Lottie Loeb’s house tonight. Believe me I wouldn’t have invited you here if I thought there was any chance of them spotting us together. We can’t go damaging your reputation now, can we?” she tossed out with a small wink as she descended gracefully down from her seat.

Something inside Hopper clenched at that. He’d _hate_ for her to think the reason they had to keep their little ‘fling’ a secret was because he was ashamed of her. It’s not like she could help being so young, for heaven’s sakes…

Brushing aside the concern for the time being, he offered his arm to her genteelly for their trip down the block to his blazer. “Shall we?” he purred at her with a quirked-up eyebrow. She grinned at him toothily and wrapped her baby-soft arm around his own big, beefy one, giving him a quick peck on the cheek that left his face burning like mad in her wake.

“So, you hungry gorgeous?” he inquired with a shameless leer down that low-cut dress of hers.

“Starving!” she exclaimed with both hands on her barely-there belly. “I haven’t had a descent enchilada in five years; you better believe I’m going to town tonight, boy.”

By the time they finally arrived at _Hacienda Vieja_ , the dinner rush was in full swing, filling Hopper with an enormous sense of relief. In his estimation, the louder and noisier the surrounding environment, the less of a chance people would bother paying any attention to what he and his lovely young companion were up to tonight. As the pair sidled up to the front desk together, their harassed-looking hostess explained apologetically that only two tables were open just then, and, with a small sigh, lead them to a booth all the way to the back of the restaurant. So far things were lining up _swimmingly_ in Hopper’s mind.

He glanced at his menu for all of a minute before deciding on the ranchero burrito (he’d heard from an old war buddy once that red peppers were a killer aphrodisiac, and the ranchero was practically _loaded_ with ‘em). Gloria didn’t even bother cracking hers open, apparently dead-set on those enchiladas she’d mentioned earlier during their walk. Mercifully it only took their perky little waitress seven minutes to get around to their table, and once the bubble blonde finally bounced away with both their orders in hand, Hopper felt Gloria’s silky-smooth leg start to glide up his own where they rested beneath the table.  

“I’m really glad we did this,” she whispered to him in a sultry tone, t-strap sandaled foot inching up just _a little bit_ higher along his _Levi’s_ with every passing second.

He sighed overdramatically. “Pity we couldn’t do it sooner, though. If _only_ you’d called me earlier in the week.” Hopper closed his eyes and shook his head at her in mock disapproval.

Gloria abruptly stopped mid-stroke of his thigh, removing her foot entirely and sticking her tongue out at him instead.

“I’m just kidding, babydoll.” He coaxed her foot back up to his lap with his own, and, as she complied, began administering love taps up and down the length of her other calf with its twin.

As the friction between their lower limbs grew more and more intense, Hopper swallowed thickly, looking for something to say to distract him from the desire threatening to spill out and over right where he sat.  

“Great selection, by the way.” He jerked his head towards the lone stand-up menu their waitress hadn’t bothered removing from the corner of the table. “You will NEVER have enchiladas in your life like the ones they serve here.”

“Hmmm I don’t know about that,” Gloria countered skeptically. “The ones at _Tacombi Montauk_ back on LI were _to die for_. My sister and I used to go there every Friday after school and eat three plates between us. They were THAT good.”

Hopper cocked his head curiously. “Sounds like you two were real close back then, huh?”

She nodded briefly while taking a sip of water. “Yeah, when we were kids, we were inseparable. Typical twins. Just like Paulie and Stef, really.”

“You must miss her a ton, then. I mean, Montauk’s _kinda_ far away.”

She paused for several seconds then, twirling the bendy straw in her water glass four times before finally offering up a response. “I do. _Terribly_.”

“Do you hear from her a lot? Has she called you lately to see how you’re settling in?” Hopper couldn’t resist digging a little deeper, unsure if he was treading dangerous waters or not, but his inquisitiveness getting the better of him nonetheless.

“Ummmm, no, actually,” Gloria answered slowly, eyes turning downcast to the napkin she’d laid to rest mannerly in her lap a little earlier. “We um, we fell out of contact a little while ago. I haven’t spoken to her in a good five years, to be honest.”

“That’s a shame,” Hopper replied with a sympathetic frown. _He knew all too well the pain of familial separation._ “What happened there? If uh, if you don’t mind me asking,” he added the last part hastily to be polite. He knew full-well he was prying _way_ too far right now, totally inappropriate for what by all accounts was only their second date. But the die-hard detective in him just couldn’t stop grilling once he got started, and he figured Gloria was too easy-going to give him _that_ hard of a time over it. She hadn’t even batted an eyelash when she caught him going through her medicine cabinet the other day, for Pete’s sake.

Gloria remained silent for a long moment, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she mulled over her next response. “I was a major douchebag when I was young, Jim,” she finally confessed in a flat, deadened tone. “I mean, I’m _still_ kind of a douchebag, but even more so when I was a kid, if you’d believe it.”

Hopper snorted incredulously. “Little Miss Mary Poppins thinks she’s a douchebag? You’re probably the _least_ douchiest person I know right now, babydoll.”

“Says the man who just a minute ago was scolding me for lack of promised phone call.”

He chuckled hard at that, but then waited for her to elaborate on her initial point. Gloria’s face hardened again and her eyes grew distant as she finally began to explain.

“I was really arrogant back then. Arrogant and stupid, which is a lethal combination, as I eventually came to find out.” She took another long draw of water before settling the glass back down to continue. “I had these bat-shit crazy dreams of becoming rich and famous, like every stuck-up, narcissistic kid who thinks they’re God’s gift to humanity. And I ended up shitting on _a lot_ of people along the way trying to get what I wanted. Including the people I loved. Eventually, that all came back to haunt me in spades.”

Hopper nodded silently; everything she’d told them that first night at the bar about ‘running away from bad memories’ finally made sense to him. “So _that’s_ why you left LI.”

Gloria nodded in affirmation. “ _Partially_ , yeah. It was too hard for me to stick around in the wake of all the damage I’d caused. It made more sense to just…start over someplace else, I guess.”

“And how is it you ended up choosing _Hawkins_ of all places?” He couldn’t resist tossing that one out there, he’d been dying to know how someone as glamorous and nonconventional as she ended up in what by all outward appearances seemed like such an ordinary, non-exciting little place.

Gloria shrugged. “It’s a small town several hundred miles away. No one knows my name. _Perfect_ place to make a new start, if you ask me.” 

“Well I for one am very glad you did.” Hopper lifted both her hands off the table in his own then, taking turns bringing each one up to his mouth to plant kisses all over her peaches and cream skin.

But she just shook her head and tutted three times. “ _Always the charmer_ , ay Sheriff?” Gloria teased him with a wry smile. “Good thing I’m not that easily dazzled.”

He smirked at her fiercely then. “You know you love it, _little girl_ ,” Hopper whispered with shameless abandon, burying his foot inside her dress until it hit a particularly _damp_ patch of her silken underwear.  

He felt her shudder slightly at the contact. “And what if I don’t? You gonna take me home and _make_ me love it, _Daddy_?” She uttered the last word with a small chomp on her straw, and Hopper wanted nothing more than to yank it out of her mouth and shove his tongue (and other appendages) right in its place.

He was about to make some witty retort involving handcuffs and a much-deserved spanking, when their waitress finally re-emerged wheeling along a cart with two heaping plates of food on top in her wake. Hopper and Gloria swiftly untangled their limbs from each other, putting on a show of innocent politeness as the woman began settling down their dishes in front of them.

As they plowed along through their respective meals, Hopper marveled at Gloria’s appetite, unusual he would have thought for one as especially slim and petite as she. She’d ordered a full-size plate of cheese enchiladas and had already managed to down two of them with no signs of slowing down. “ _How can anyone eat that much and stay so thin?_ ” he couldn’t help but wonder to himself bemusedly.

He was about to comment that he highly doubted _Tacombi Montauk_ had ever elicited this kind of enthusiasm in her, when a loud, _obnoxious_ bray from the other side of the room shook Hopper from his train of thought. Shifting slightly in his seat, Hopper’s blood ran cold as his eyes fell upon Max’s _steaming pile of shit excuse for an older brother_ , ‘Billy’ he was sure the little prick was called, clad in the same vest and jacket as their bubble blonde waitress from before.

“Oh, fuck!” Hopper quickly yanked the brim of his fedora as far down along his face as it would go, praying the stupid toolbag hadn’t spotted them together doing his rounds between tables. _Since when had that spoiled brat got himself a summer job?_

Hopper continued to stare surreptitiously from under the brim of his hat as Billy continued jotting down orders, silently cursing the damned fool of a boy for apparently taking his sweet ass time (“ _How long does it take it nail down a meal for two fucking people? Goddamn idiot.”_ ). It was another three minutes before the teen FINALLY made his way back to the other side of the restaurant, and Hopper breathed a giant sigh of relief, lifting his fedora to rub off the perspiration now beading on his forehead.

So engrossed was he in calming down his pounding heart that for a long moment he forgot that he was still smack-dab in the middle of his date with Gloria, whom he’d just blatantly ignored for several long minutes in the interest of watching out for Billy. He quickly removed his hand from his eyes to find that she had stopped eating entirely, her plate pushed a good ten inches away from her place at the table, and was just sitting there staring quietly at him. She didn’t look angry, but she didn’t look particularly pleased, either. She was just _staring_.

“Hello there. Welcome back,” Gloria stated flatly after several seconds of agonized silence had dragged out between the two of them.

Hopper swallowed thickly. “S-sorry babydoll. It’s just that...I know that kid who was just taking the order from that table over there.” He jerked his head in the direction of the booth directly across from them. “And I didn’t—”

“I understand,” she held up a dove-like hand to stop him from continuing. “It’s a small town and you can’t risk rumors spreading around about you and some chick half your age getting it on. _Believe me I get it_.” She shrugged slightly as she dabbed her napkin at both the corners of her mouth nonchalantly.

“I really _am_ sorry,” he lamented in all sincerity, not quite believing she was as fine with everything as she would have him believe.  “I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It’s not like I’m ashamed to be seen with you or anything. I just—”

“It’s _o-kay_.” Gloria insisted before downing the last of her water with a small squelch. “This isn’t my first time seeing an older man, Jim. I’ve been through this rodeo plenty of times before.”

“Oh.” It felt like someone had hollowed out his stomach from inside of him. Hopper didn’t know _why_ he’d just assumed he was the first man his age she’d ever been with. Or why it should even _bother_ him that he wasn’t. But it did. _A lot_.

“I have to go to the Lady’s Room.” Gloria announced suddenly, placing her perfectly folded-up napkin neatly by her glass and rising quickly from the table. “I’ll meet you out by the car, okay?” The smile she flashed at him then seemed _so_ sincere, but the change in the air between them was palpable.

“Yeah, yeah okay.” He nodded vigorously, not sure what else he _could_ say right now to smooth everything over. Not when she refused to admit anything was wrong. “I’ll see you there.”

Gloria walked away then, and Hopper smacked himself hard on the head as soon as he was sure she wasn’t looking, that nasty feeling he’d irrevocably mucked up whatever existed between them rearing its ugly head again.

After another minute of relentless mental beration, Hopper remembered he was supposed to be meeting her out by the car, and didn’t want to risk her getting there with him nowhere to be found. So he made his way over to the front register to pay for their meal, all the while trying to come up with some sort of plan to properly make up for his behavior. As the cashier handed him his change, the annoying douche canoe Hopper blamed _entirely_ for his current predicament came back around from the other side of the restaurant to check on his tables once more.

Without thinking Hopper darted quickly down the backmost corridor of the restaurant, only stopping when he’d arrived right outside the double doors of the kitchen area. In the back of his mind he _barely_ registered a repetitive sloshing sound coming from somewhere to his right; at the moment he was too singularly focused on Billy and whether the little turd had actually managed to spot him this time. As the boy barreled off who knew where again and his racing thoughts began to ebb, Hopper realized that strange noise was growing even louder now, almost like a prolonged _moan_ but not quite clear enough to really be that. As he cocked an ear to the right, he _finally_ realized that it actually sounded very much like a woman being violently ill. Hopper did a 180 then, eyes darting instantly toward the door right across from where he stood.

It was the woman’s rest room.

Suddenly, an awful, _ugly_ thought began worming its way inside his brain. Something which, in the deepest darkest recesses of his mind, he’d been suspecting for quite some time, but never consciously put together until right at that very moment. _A girl who can down three servings of stuffed French Toast and four massive enchiladas on the regular and still remain stick thin_. He knew without wanting to know that it was _she_ on the other side of that door being riotously sick. _Making herself sick_.

***

Out in the parking lot, Hopper dug deep inside his jacket pocket, yanking out a small orange bottle with the word ‘TUINAL’ stamped across in big black lettering. Struggling to twist the white plastic top off with shaking hands, it was a full minute before he finally managed to free a little blue caplet from its spot in the vial, downing it in one quick swallow, desperate to soothe his overwrought nerves the only way he knew how.

He stood there waiting another five minutes, just letting the calming effect of the pills wash over his brain, before he finally spotted her emerging from _Hacienda Vieja_. As she made her way across the parking lot it really hit him for the very first time just how small she actually was. Just a wee little girl in a red dress really, who always made herself up impeccably wherever she went, like a child playing dress up. Never a single lock of hair out of place, or even a smudge of lipstick on those pearly white teeth. A girl whose family didn’t talk to her at all anymore, who routinely dated men who had no qualms treating her like some dirty little secret (himself now added to that prestigious club, apparently). _A girl who purged her innards after every meal to keep even an ounce of fat from perking up on that dangerously flat stomach._

In that moment, Hopper dearly wished _he_ could be sick.

Gloria’s disposition on the other hand was as sunny and chipper as ever, her eyes fixed fondly on his as she sauntered slowly over towards his spot by the car. He found he couldn’t help himself but to smile right on back at her, even if he didn’t really feel it all inside.

“Hey, Stranger.” She began twirling a lock of that long, tawny hair shyly, the strand shining a bright reddish-brown in the evening’s fading twilight. “Listen hon… can we just forget about all that weirdness from before and go get a drink at _Munden’s_? I’ve got a really strong hankering for a shot of whiskey right about now.” She did that adorable little thing she always did when she wanted something out of you, bouncing on the balls of her feet with large, pleading eyes. _Just like a child who’d never really grown up._ Or perhaps grown up before her time.

In any other situation, with any other girl, Hopper knew, he would have pulled some cockamamie excuse out of his ass for why he had to get back to the station STAT. Would have driven her home in under ten minutes, speed limit be damned, and _never bothered_ to answer another call from her ever again.  

 _But she wasn’t just any other girl._ Not to him. No, she was special. _And made him feel special_. Every other ‘Daddy’ of hers be damned…

“Yeah. Yeah that sounds great.” He dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the passenger’s side door for her, her hand brushing his in thanks doing nothing to quell the conflict raging inside him. As he made his way around to the other side of the car, he covertly popped another Tuinal in his mouth and prayed that this one would kick in even sooner than the last. _He was really gonna need it_.

***

They were out of the restaurant parking lot all of ten seconds before his resolve to say nothing finally snapped apart like a twig. “So did you enjoy your meal?” He tried to ask as casually as he could, but in his mind it just sounded flat-out accusatory. _Not that she seemed to notice, of course._

“Oh yeah, I _loved_ their queso sauce especially, so creamy. I mean, I’d be lying if I said they were better than the ones at _Tacombi Montauk_ , but still, it’s _really really close_.”

Hopper grinned perfunctorily at that before resuming his current line of questioning. “Honestly it, uhhhh, it amazes me how someone with your appetite stays so thin,” he tossed out with a not-so-casual shrug, trying to act as if it were all just small talk to help pass the time.

She said nothing in response though, her eyes glued out the window as he pulled up in the back lot behind the bar. He thought briefly about just dropping it for the rest of the evening, _but dammit if he wasn’t ready to let this fucking go._

“You must have one hell of an exercise regimen, huh?” he prodded a little more sharply than he’d initially intended to.

Gloria finally turned herself around to face him then, a shameless leer rapidly spreading along that diamond-shaped face. “Oh yeah, _very_ extensive. In fact…I think I’m up for some _cardio_ right about now.”

She was on his lap in the driver’s seat in a matter of seconds. Another minute and she had his belt unbuckled and the leather strap undone and lying coiled on the floor by the brakes.

It had been somewhere around her fifth bounce back down on his dick that Hopper decided he was going to shut his brain off for the rest of the evening and just have fun with her. Yes, this was clearly a young woman with a _fuckton_ of baggage he couldn’t even poke with a ten foot pole right now. Yes, she was too young and their dynamic waaaaay too fucked up for anything long-term to have any chance of emerging between them. But right now, he wanted nothing more than to enjoy a night out with the girl who lit him on fire every time she touched him, whose smile made him weak in the knees, who made him feel _alive_ , even after all these years he’d been convinced he was totally dead inside.

She bent down to french him passionately about half-way in the middle of their little romp. The gusts of breath that washed over him as they kissed were all sweet and saturated with the taste of berries, just like they always were. _You’d never know she’d just purged herself all of a half hour ago._

Another fifteen minutes of intense fucking and she was rolling off of him completely out of breath, collapsing back onto the passenger seat with a long, deep, thoroughly-satiated sigh. “Any chance you’re ready for that drink now, hon?” she panted out a little huskily with a quirked-up eyebrow.

In the interest of ensuring his conscience couldn’t interfere with the rest of their evening, Hopper did what he’d always done best and got himself completely sloshed out of his mind. Gloria it turned out made an _excellent_ drinking buddy, matching him shot for shot without even a shred of hesitation.  By the time the clock struck midnight several hours later, they had ended up capping off an entire bottle of whiskey between them, had drunkenly belted out “Islands in the Stream” no less than _three_   _times_ together at the karaoke machine, and had fucked each other senseless at least twice in the men’s restroom. _And they weren’t done yet._

When he racked his brains the following morning, Hopper couldn’t remember getting into the cab that Sid the Bartender had very responsibly phoned in to take them back up to his place on the lake. He didn’t remember half-dragging Gloria into his trailer, pinning her tightly against the door to his den and yanking that little red dress off those tear-shaped tits. And while he could _vaguely_ recall the way she’d screamed ‘Daddy!’ like a dying banshee when he’d buried his head square between her thighs, none of that was quite so clear to him as what had happened when they’d finally gotten through with their latest bout of lovemaking.

No, what dogged Hopper the most vividly from the midst of his booze-fueled stupor was holding her tightly to his body in the cold light of morning. Stroking her long, auburn hair for hours on end as she lay stock-still beside him. _Whispering drunken endearments into those pretty porcelain ears, just telling her over and over again that she was beautiful and sweet and smart and much too hard on herself for her own damn good._

He remembered falling,

falling,

 _Crashing right into her_. And not being able to do a damn thing about it…

…and not even wanting to.

***

“ _Nights in white satin, never reaching the end…Letters I’ve written, never meaning to send…Beauty I’d always missed, with these eyes before…Just what the truth is, I can’t say anymore. ‘Cause I love youuu...Yes I love youuuu…Ohhhhh how I loveeeee youuuuu!”_

Justin Hayward began crooning at him through the tinny speaker of his alarm clock around a quarter to eight the following morning. Reaching over groggily to slam down the Sleep button as far as it would go, Hopper rolled himself over to apologize for the rude awakening, only to find Gloria’s side of the bed vacant of her presence.

“Gloria?” He called out still half-asleep to the wider room around him, but was met with no reply. He sat up on the bed and stretched himself out lazily, slipping on a pair of boxers he found lying on the floor before getting up to go look for her.

“Gloria?” He called out again, just a little bit louder this time. Still no answer.

It occurred to him after a moment that she _might_ be stuck in the bathroom, possibly trying to empty herself of all those shots she’d taken with him the evening prior. The thought made _him_ want to throw up, too.

“Gloria?” Hopper knocked sharply on the restroom door but was met with no response. He paused for a moment, not wanting to violate her privacy if she really _was_ in the middle of a purge, but also anxious to make sure she was alright and not passed out on the tiled floor. So he turned the little golden knob slowly, relieved to find it unlocked, and called out to her again as he opened the door and switched on the ceiling light. But it turned out she wasn’t in his bathroom, either.

“Gloria?” He stepped out into the main hallway now, eyes scoping the full length of his trailer for any little sign of her. But she wasn’t in the kitchen, or the living room, or anywhere at all he could see.

_Would she really just take off on him like that without saying goodbye?_

As Hopper turned toward his kitchen table to see if maybe she’d left him a note, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the door to his private den was ever-so-slightly ajar. He frowned, trying and failing to recall whether he’d forgotten to lock it up yesterday before leaving for their date. _It wasn’t usually like him to be so careless…_

He crept up to the room quietly, his breath caught frozen in his chest the entire way. There was no way…right? She couldn’t be…she _wouldn’t_ be…

He grabbed the dull silver knob in his sweaty palm, swiftly yanking the door open all the way…

… _And she wasn’t in there, either_. His breathed a deep sigh of relief, but his paranoia wasn’t through playing games with him just yet. In the interest of playing it safe, he dug out a large bronze key from its hiding place under an Elmer Fudd paper weight and quickly unlocked his pull-out file cabinet, rifling through all of the documents hidden inside like Superman on amphetamines.

They were all still there. Every transcript of his phone calls with Owens, every letter from his contacts at the FBI, every piece of info he’d managed to coax from his little Jane, and all of his own strange and unusual findings around Hawkins the past couple of years. Nothing had been stolen, and no evidence at all that anyone had been in there except an open door and his own paranoid imagination.

Hopper shook himself hard; _he was being ridiculous right now_. Shutting the cabinet back up with a tiny bang, he finally left the office, locking the door behind him properly this time, at the same moment that Gloria stepped back inside his trailer, his car keys jangling loudly in her hand.

“Oh, hi,” she smiled a little sheepishly as she caught sight of him standing there with questioning eyes. “Sorry about taking off like that. I always wake up really early in the mornings…figured I’d take a taxi down to _Munden’s_ and bring your car back for you. Hope you don’t mind.” She tossed Hopper back his keys, which he caught easily in one hand.

“Oh wow, thanks babydoll.” The steady stream of shame bubbling inside for what he’d suspected of her just moments ago was on the verge of overflowing now. Making his way over to where Gloria stood shyly, he placed a small, chaste kiss on her mouth before wrapping both arms tightly around her middle. “And you think you’re a douchebag,” he whispered teasingly into her ear. She just snorted and slapped him hard on the chest.

It occurred to him after a few more seconds had passed that the considerate thing to do in light of her selfless gesture would be to offer to cook her breakfast. He battled himself over it for a moment though, knowing where all of his efforts were bound to end up when all was said and done, but also not wanting to make her feel even more _underappreciated_ than he’d unwittingly done at _Hacienda Vieja_ yesterday.

“Can I make you anything to eat, Gloria?” he finally offered with an affectionate peck on her forehead. “I don’t got much stocked in the fridge, but there’s plenty of eggs left and some bacon in the freezer, if you like.”

“Mmmn,” She planted one last, sweet little kiss on his lips before licking her own ravenously. “Bacon and eggs sound lovely.”

***

A minute later and he’d dug out a small frying pan from one of his kitchen drawers and began laying out several strips of bacon on its sizzling, cast-iron bottom. Gloria, apparently not content to just sit around waiting for him to whip up her meal, had grabbed a large glass bowl from out of his dishwasher and began cracking four large eggs into it she’d fished from out of the fridge.

It was nice, them working side-by-side in a sort of sweet, comfortable silence. They seemed to move in perfect tandem around the kitchen too, never once colliding or accidentally getting in each other’s way as they bandied about preparing each other’s breakfast. The feeling left him with a strange sense of warmth, an unmitigated contentedness he always thought would be beyond him. And he couldn’t believe that _this girl_ , this ridiculously young girl with a mountain’s worth of baggage he couldn’t even _begin_ to unravel, ended up being The One to give it to him.

Once he’d plated all the bacon and she had finished scrambling up their eggs, they finally took their seats on opposite ends of his kitchen table. Gloria quickly re-initiated their little game of footsie from the night before, immediately bringing a big, goofy smile to his face as he downed his first egg. As he struggled to make small talk Hopper noticed her eyes kept darting periodically to something hanging over his shoulder. His own curiosity getting the better of him as it always did, he turned about in his seat to get a proper look at what was distracting her.

A sharp pang walloped him in the gut as he realized she’d been staring at one of Sara’s old drawings, pinned up with a Minnie Mouse magnet in the middle his fridge. It’d been the last drawing she’d ever made for him, in fact, right before the cancer had claimed her...

Hopper turned back to face Gloria uncomfortably now, preparing himself for the onslaught of painful questions he’d never get used to, no matter how much time would pass. He reminded himself that she’d been pretty candid with him about _her_ family drama the evening before, no matter how much he'd pried. Turnabout was fair play, after all.

“That’s adorable,” Gloria commented simply after another few seconds had passed with a small nod at the picture.

“Thanks,” Hopper hesitated for a little bit before finally deciding to just come on out with it. “It was my daughter’s.”

She smiled sweetly at the revelation. “ _Of course she’d have no problem with me having a kid,”_ Hopper thought to himself ruefully. “ _I could probably have five perfectly healthy kids bandying around this trailer right now and she wouldn’t care in the least._ _Meanwhile I can’t even take her out for a goddamn meal without acting like a fucking fruitcake about someone spotting us.”_

“ _Sara_ ,” Gloria read aloud the name spelt out in canary yellow finger paint on the bottom of the page. “I’ve always loved that name. Very regal.”

He smiled appreciatively at the compliment. “She…uh.” The words felt like chalk in his mouth; he was _not_ in the mood to do this right now, but somehow he just didn’t have the heart to pull the wool over her eyes with some honky dory lie. Not after Gloria had been so open with him yesterday.  “She passed away around seven years ago from leukemia.”

He closed his eyes for a long moment and breathed in harshly through his nose. Once he was sure he’d managed to collect himself, he peeked them open again slowly, finding she’d stopped eating or drinking or moving altogether now. She was just staring at him again, that same strange, saddish contemplation in her eyes she’d worn yesterday back at the restaurant.

“I’m sorry,” she finally offered in a small, husky voice. Turning her gaze back onto her plate, unable to face him in that moment it seemed, she cut up another egg for herself and brought it swiftly up to her mouth before finally piping up again. “My God, you think _you_ have problems and then you meet someone who lost their own kid.” She shook her head with a heavy sigh. “You must be made of some _really strong stuff,_ Sheriff. I’d never be able to handle anything like that no matter how long I lived. I’d snap apart like a twig.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hopper offered in a reassuring tone, grateful beyond measure she wasn’t plying him with clichéd condolences, or else barraging him with questions he’d already had to answer too many times to count. “You seem like you’ve weathered some pretty rocky stuff in your life. I’d say you’re pretty tough.”

But Gloria just shook her head. “Everything I’ve gone through was by my own doing, though. That I _have to_ live with, so I have a chance to atone,” she explained in between loud, crunchy bites of her bacon. “But something like _this_ , where the outcome is _totally_ out of your control and all you can do is sit back and watch, helpless to stop it…I could never live with that. I’d have blown my brains out before it even happened. Or flung myself off a cliff.” She raised her half-empty glass of _Tropicana_ in deference to him then. “You’re a _really brave guy_ , Jim. I admire that more than almost anything in a person.”

She downed the rest of the glass in one long gulp before rising from her seat and making to clear off the dishes.

“Just leave it, babydoll.” He caught her wrist in his hand as she reached over for his plate, taking the opportunity to look at her, _really look at her,_ but knowing he’d never be able to truly fathom what he saw, no matter how long he did. She was, in every way, unlike _anybody_ he’d ever met before. _A mystery to be uncovered._ And he knew even then that no matter how much it flew in the face of all logic, in the face of _everything_ his life had been leading up to at that point, he was fated to spend the rest of it trying…

She began to blush somewhat uncomfortably as his gaze continued to linger along her increasingly-hardened features. “If you’ll excuse me just a moment, Jim. I need to go freshen up before I leave.” She made to slip away from him then, but Hopper just tightened his grip on her arm even harder.

“Wait.” He didn’t even know what he was thinking at that point, had nothing remotely resembling a plan for how to stop her from leaving the room. _But damn it all to hell if he was just going to give up without putting up a fight._ “Wait another minute, babydoll.”  

He rose quickly from the chair and took her face inside his hands, his thought to kiss her to distraction from her current ill intentions. It was a shoddy plan, he knew. A _really stupid_ one, even. But it was the only intervention he could come up with at the moment.

She let him carry out his worship of her lips for all of a minute before finally wresting herself from his grasp, making her way silently toward his bathroom without even a second look back. Hopper wanted nothing more than to chase right on after her, to beg her not to do what they both knew she was off to do, but knowing full well that none of it would end up being any use anyhow. Even if she _were_ his girlfriend, or his wife, or someone who actually _owed_  him anything at all, you can’t just _love_ someone out of their addictions. Real life doesn’t work that way, he knew it all too well. 

So Hopper just stood there in his freshly surrendered silence, waiting for Gloria to finish up her morning purge they both pretended even now he couldn’t hear through the paper-thin walls. _Helpless to stop it_.

_He closed his eyes tight and braced himself for the crash..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo that was all pretty heavy, huh? And we're only on Chapter 5...
> 
> Rest assured there are VERY significant character/plot reasons for Gloria's disorder. Didn't just throw it in to facilitate the romance (although Hopper being Hopper will of course be moved to help her, naturally). 
> 
> The song playing on Hopper’s morning alarm was “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues (can you tell that I like them A LOT?).


	6. Into the Woods

_Love is a burning thing,_

_And it makes a fiery ring._

_Bound by wild desire,_

_I fell right into a ring of fire…_

 

It’s a very strange thing when you realize you’ve fallen for someone in spite of yourself.

Love in and of itself, it’s widely agreed, is an exercise in utter insanity. A Spanish dramatist once very wisely wrote that “when love is not madness, it is not love”. But despite _all_ the major inconveniences, the plethora of costs almost _inevitably_ attached, most of the time, the emergence of new love is entirely intentional on the part of all fools involved. When you lock eyes with a gorgeous stranger across a crowded room, take your partner to bed to try for your very first baby, bring in a stray, hungry dog from off of the street even, you’re actively _trying_ to forge a lasting bond with another being, no matter how much it’s going to up-end your life in the process. Love is costly, but most of the time, it’s a cost you’re _looking_ to pay.

But then sometimes falling in love is like being foolish enough to meander around the proverbial railroad tracks, even when you hear the whistle blowing a mile away. You convince yourself you have plenty of time to hightail it out of there; you can hop and skip and jump along the rail line all you like and then run right off as the train comes round the bend. And hey, what’s life without a little thrill, right _? But then love ends up walloping you head-on like a freight train going seventy miles per hou_ r and before you can even wrap your skull around what’s happened, you’ve been crushed underneath.

Yes, that was the best comparison Hopper could come up with as he stood in his kitchen that fateful Sunday morning, watching a post-purge Gloria bandying about his trailer, collecting various items of clothing he’d ripped off her and thrown about in haste the evening prior. He knew the hollowed out feeling in his stomach as he watched her prepare to leave, that sense of utter _dread_ swallowing him up from the inside out could mean only one thing.

 _But just_ HOW _could he've_ _allowed himself to fall_ so ridiculously quickly _? He barely KNEW the girl for God's sake!_

“You okay, hon?” Gloria paused in the middle of rolling a particularly silky nylon up her right thigh, her expression rife with concern. _Dammit, was he really that obvious?_

Hopper swallowed thickly. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he assured her with a small smile he didn’t really feel in the least. _But what else could he tell her?_

He had never intended to fall in love with Gloria De Falco. Flirt with her, play with her, fuck with her, _yes_. But love her? That was never on his agenda. She was too young, too wayward, too in need of someone stable and whole, someone who could actually give her a shot at a normal life. A girl like Gloria De Falco was meant to meet some filthy rich young buck, a doctor maybe, get swept off her feet and settle down in a million dollar mansion somewhere for her happily ever after.  

Hopper, well, never mind that he was _way_ too old for anything official between the pair of them to be considered respectable. He was also _way too damaged_ an individual to make _anybody_ a decent partner, never mind little girls with broken dreams and a disorder he could barely wrap his confused skull around. And all that didn’t even factor in the _fun fucking fact_ that he spent half his time protecting this shitty little town against all manner of extraterrestrial monsters from another goddamn dimension. How could _any_ real relationship stand a shot of working out for him here?

No, absolutely nothing about Hopper’s feelings for Ms. De Falco made a lick of sense. They'd been on a grand total of two measly dates (if one could even call their chance encounter at the bar 'a date'). And there was no way they could end up lasting more than a month or two-not with her apparent litany of personal problems and the fact that he himself was pretty much the human equivalent of a _motherfucking black hole_.

Nevertheless, the feelings were there, and Hopper could no more deny them than he could deny his own heartbeat inside his chest. He _loved_ her, it was as simple as that.

What was decidedly _not_ simple was figuring out what the hell he was going to do about it.

***

_The taste of love is sweet,_

_When hearts like ours meet._

_I fell for you, like a child._

_Oh, but the fire went wild._

As Hopper lay stretched out all alone on his couch, staring at but not really watching the _Miami Vice_ repeat currently running on his television, he decided his best course of action was to just keep things with Gloria the way they were now. Date her casually and milk their time together for as much as it was worth. The ball would be left in _her_ court to bring their little ‘fling’ to its final end, and he’d never have to tell her how it was he truly felt. No, he’d stuff the feelings _down,_ _down, down_ where they belonged, and when the time was right, let her go and stuff them down even further.

_That plan lasted all of a week before Hopper had to admit to himself that it was no goddamn use._

That’s the thing about spending so much time with someone you’re too inclined to love: _it tends to make you love them even more_. No matter what it was that they ended up doing together: getting drunk at _Munden’s_ , running out for custard at _The Creamery_ , or even just laying about his trailer, having sex for hours on end (God, her utter lack of inhibitions during sex didn’t help his predicament _at all_ ) it just made him hate to watch her leave him all the more.

But it all really came to a head for him one particularly bright Sunday afternoon, when they’d agreed to meet up at a secluded little arboretum called Dunesberry Gardens for a small picnic spread. Gloria showed up in a pale lavender sun dress and a straw hat with a big blue ribbon around it, because _of course_ she did. What was initially only supposed to be a quick lunch date at the park ended up lasting for hours as they lay stretched out under the summer sun, just joking and laughing and making small talk about their mutual interests.

Hopper couldn’t believe what similar tastes they had in pretty much everything, from books (it turned out they were both hardcore Stephen King fans, each in the middle of racing through “Skeleton Crew” even as they spoke), music (Gloria’s favorite all-time bands were Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, which earned her an approving toast from Hopper’s wineglassful of _Sauvignon Blanc_ ), movies (she stipulated and he agreed that the more guns, bombs, jetplanes, helicopters, and explosions in a given flick, the better a time you were guaranteed to have), you name it. Someone half his age shouldn’t have _that_ much in common with him, really. Shouldn't  _understand him_ nearly as well as she somehow did.

 _But she_ _did_.  _It was as simple as that_.

As the sun began its descent beneath the leafy green trees and the cool evening air quickly settled itself in, Gloria ended up sidling up to Hopper's side of the striped blue sheet they’d turned into a makeshift picnic blanket. Cuddling up quietly to his big, beefy body for warmth, she heaved a long, deep sigh of pure contentment as she nestled herself into him.

_He could feel something shatter like broken glass inside his chest._

“What it is?” Gloria asked him a few minutes later with a furrowed brow, apparently taking notice of the pained expression on his face he hadn’t realized was betraying him.

Hopper didn’t reply at first, _couldn’t_ reply really. He just brought his thumb up to her peaches and cream cheek, contemplating her silently as he stroked it with utter tenderness. All the while wishing he could be even _a little bit_ honest with her about everything he felt, but lacking every last bit of strength it would take for him to do so.

“Nothing,” Hopper finally muttered quietly, forcing a small smile on his face to mask the inner conflict currently raging inside him. He gently nudged her face up to his then and laid a series of butterfly kisses all over her mouth and chin. Gloria responded by rolling him over gently onto the blanket, climbing on top and screwing him wild under the setting sun for a good long hour. Hopper honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a day go _this_ perfectly, all heartache and inner turmoil aside.

_Dammit Jim, just what the hell do you think you’re doing?_

***

_I fell into a burning ring of fire._

_I went down, down, down, and the flames got higher._

_And it burns, burns, burns…_

_The ring of fire…the ring of fire…_

As he sat alone at _Munden’s_ later that evening getting as shitfaced drunk as was humanly possible, Hopper realized the longer he kept up whatever it was between them, the more it was going to kill him when they eventually had to part. He knew the only chance he had of sparing himself the need to double his already copious indulgence in pharmaceutical therapy would be to end it all himself, sooner rather than later. Sit her down and explain that their relationship was getting too risky now, that the more they spent time together the more they potentially attracted unwanted attention. Not only was his own reputation on the line here, he didn’t want _her_ suffering the consequences of a public association with him. Heaven knows, it might make her bulimia even worse.

God, the bulimia. Hopper lay awake for hours at night trying to sort out how the fuck he ought to proceed on that one. Could he really live with himself if he didn’t even _attempt_ to intervene? It was quickly becoming more and more apparent to him it wasn’t just an occasional indulgence with her; as far as he could tell she purged herself after every major meal. Any time he took her out to dinner, or stopped at a hot dog truck, or brought her back donuts he’d pilfered from the Station, it was guaranteed Gloria would feel the need to go “freshen up” at the closest restroom not too long after. So many times he found himself right on the verge of breaking his silence, telling her he knew she had a problem but it was alright, he didn’t judge her, he just wanted her to get some _help_.

But Hopper knew all too well the power of addictions, the grip they can have on you when you’ve deigned to sport around with them for long enough. Springing the subject on Gloria point blank without an _actual_ solution, merely tossing accusations and aimless pleading her way would get him absolutely _nowhere._ No, he needed to be _strategic_ about this if he wanted any shot of getting through to her. And that would require outside help.

So the Wednesday following their date at the Gardens he stopped off at the local clinic to meet with Dr. Nguyen, a kindly older gentleman who'd been Hopper's primary physician for years (even if it'd been a good long while since he'd actually _let_ the man physically examine him). Under the pretext of asking for the daughter of a friend, he explained his suspicions regarding her ritualistic trips to the bathroom, and inquired what the best course of action to treat her would be if she did indeed have a problem with bulimia.  

Nguyen’s expression had darkened significantly at the mention of the word, and Hopper shuddered as he began describing in excruciating detail the erosive effects daily purging could have on human organs. What would inevitably happen to her face and skin and teeth if she carried on as she had been for very much longer.  While there apparently wasn’t much Nguyen himself could do to combat the disorder beyond sitting her down and explaining the very real hazards to her health, he _did_ give Hopper a card for a commended psychotherapist in Pawnee, advising him to try and talk her into reaching out for treatment there.

Hopper had no idea how Gloria felt about going to therapy, but he figured it was bound do her a world of good. _Especially_ after what she’d revealed to him about her past, there was clearly a fuckton of issues there that could really use addressing. _Nevermind that he could probably do with a session or two himself._

And so Hopper formulated himself a new plan: sometime over the next week, he’d coax Gloria over to his trailer with the promise of a good old fashioned barbecue out on his back deck overlooking the lake. Once they’d finished their burgers and Gloria made to go get up for a new purge, he’d ask her point blank why she always went to the bathroom right after she ate _. Whether she was actually going in there to empty herself out._

If she confirmed or denied it, either way it wouldn’t matter. He’d make sure she knew that _he_ _knew_ , and go into the same horrifying detail on all the ways she was ruining her health as Dr. Nguyen had done with him back at the clinic. _Let her know point blank_ she needed to stop and reach out for treatment now if she didn’t want to end up in an early grave.

Hopefully, Gloria would agree to accept the help he offered and commence treatment with Dr. Clayton out in Pawnee. As soon as Hopper was certain she was doing better and on a sure, steady road towards recovery, he’d break off the romantic side of their relationship, with all assurances that they’d remain really good friends.

Conversely, she might very well just curse him out from pillar to post for sticking his nose into her business, storm out of his trailer like a bat out of hell and refuse point-blank to ever talk to him again, no matter what he tried.

Either way, Hopper would have done all he could for her. _Either way, he’d have to learn to live in love alone._

***

As June slowly but surely inched towards its impending close, the residents of Hawkins found themselves unilaterally jacking up their ACs as the heat index spiked a good 18 points in temp. Balmy seventy degree days had now turned stifling and stuck meandering in the late eighties, and as their thermometers rose so inevitably did instances of petty crime around town follow suit.

Even if the uptake in illegal behavior kept him on his toes the live-long day now, it still didn’t shake Hopper one measly little bit. He knew too well from past experience that the heat was prone to prompting all the loonies to come out of the woodwork and play, _that_ in and of itself was nothing new. The _real_ problem was that any looney left unchecked might as well sport a big fat red “X” upon their person for something alien and hungry to swoop in and help itself. As much as he _wanted_ to believe his little Jane had been successful in slamming the Gate to the Upside Down and all its gruesome inhabitants firmly shut once and for all, the emergence of that strange green crystal of Max's had left his confidence more than a little shaken the past several weeks. And Hopper _wouldn’t_ let himself or anybody else in this town get caught unawares because he insisted on keeping blinders on. Not again.

So he decided to reinstate his regular check-ups of Mirkwood (he’d long given up referring to it as “Cornwallis and Kerley”), just to stay on the safe side of things. And so it was on a particularly sweltering Thursday evening that Hopper found himself pulling up on the outskirts of the forest in his blazer, popping a pair of Tuinal for good measure before forcing himself moodily out of the car. Checking his belt one last time to ensure his gun was strapped securely inside its holster, Hopper began his little trek through the thick cluster of trees, working overtime to convince himself this was really just perfunctory (the Gate is _closed_...you were there, Hop... _you saw Jane do it!_ ) and he’d be out and safely back in his car after all of ten minutes.

_Alas, it was not to be._

He’d been passing through a particularly thick patch of half-bent oak trees when something stirred out of the corner of his eye. Hopper spun around sharply, whipping his gun out from its place in his belt and swiftly taking aim. But all he saw was the same twisted-up hickory he’d just passed moments ago, jiggling about like an exotic dancer in the warm, summer breeze. Shaking himself firmly, Hopper re-holstered his gun and prepared to resume his journey through the wood, when he found himself tripping over a particularly rocky patch of ground he’d failed to notice in his haste.

“Son of a motherfuck—” Hopper began to curse out furiously, but was quickly rendered speechless as soon as he realized what it actually _was_ he’d stumbled over.

Beneath him lay an entire plotful of those glowing green crystals Max had shown him weeks ago back at the _Creamery._ Hopper bent down to pick one up, turning it over in his hand and examining it closely, marveling that _it too_ had that strange, pin-straight shard sticking up smack-dab in the middle of its rocky base, crowned with thorns all along its spine.  _How in the devil could such a thing come to be?_

His musings were short-lived though, for mere seconds after he picked up the unnaturally shining object, a shadow appeared _out of nowhere_ stretched across the crystal bed, positioned right beside his own. A considerably _smaller_ shadow in comparison to his own, to be sure. But it had arms and legs and was _standing upright mere inches from his_ , like a shy little child trying to cling to its parent’s leg for protection.

Hopper reached once more for his firearm, stilling his shaking hand as it landed on the holster, grabbing the cool metal in one quick move and turning around to face the source of the apparition beside him.

 _But once again there was nobody there_. He immediately shifted his gaze back to the crystal garden: despite the space beside him apparently being empty of everything but air, the Shadow was still there, standing stock still, but turned ever so slightly toward him, as if it too were _staring_. Hopper swallowed thickly, reminding himself he’d faced _far_ scarier things over the last two years, and shifted once more to where the source of the Shadow would _have_ to be standing if something were really and truly there.

He lifted his gun slowly; if there was nobody beside him after all, his bullet would simply graze the sequoia eight feet away, no harm, no foul. If not, then he’d manage to take out whatever unwelcome visitor was currently stalking him through the fading twilight. Either way, a win-win.

He locked his finger around the trigger, sparing one last glance over his shoulder at the little Shadow-being before beginning to squeeze…

But in the time it took Hopper to blink, the Shadow bolted through the forest at lightning speed. At the very same time, something he couldn’t see for the life of him collided straight into his body. Or rather straight _through_ his body. _Passing in and out of him as if he were nothing more than jello._

For a brief moment, every nerve in Hopper’s body felt on fire. A scream he came to recognize as his own echoed agonizingly through his ears as he dropped to the ground, felled by the pain. Simultaneously the woods around him appeared to vanish _entirely_ , and all Hopper could see now was a swirling mass of colors engulfing him, submerging him, _drowning him_ in effervescent light the likes of which he couldn’t have imagined in his dizziest day dreams.

But then just like that, mere moments later, the colors were all gone. His body was returned to normal, if not severely shaken from the intensity of his experience. And he was lying flat on his ass on a particularly craggily patch of crystal rock.

***

_And it burns, burns, burns…_

_The ring of fire…the ring of fire…_

For several long minutes, Hopper just lay there, unable to move, unable to _think_ , scared utterly shitless by what he’d just experienced. He was sure he was right on the verge of passing out entirely from the stress of it all, but then out of the stifling silence of the wood a wind-chimey giggle he’d recognize _anywhere_ in the world pierced the stillness of the night.

“ _Gloria?_ ” He called out to her in complete disbelief, or at the very least _tried_ to, his voice at the moment nothing more than a hoarse rasp barely ghosting its way across his lips. _What the hell would she be doing out here?_

Hopper forced himself up and off the ground then, bolting toward the direction he was certain the laughter had came from. In less than a minute he managed to spot a warm, orangey glow through a thicket of fallen trees on his right. Changing directions sharply, he raced toward it as hard as his aching legs would carry him, realizing as he got closer that it was actually a kerosene lamp resting on a particularly stumpy log outside a large purple tent.

_He barreled into it without so much as a pause to catch his breath._

Inside, he found a twenty-something couple busy making out on top of a half-inflated sleeping bag. At least they _had been_ before Hopper burst unexpectedly through their tent, at which point the pair quickly tore themselves apart, the man emitting a small scream in shock as he jumped off of his girlfriend as if his life depended on it.

“Jesus dude!” The startled man exclaimed furiously at Hopper, trying and failing to extricate his hand through his girlfriend’s thick, bleach blonde curls. “You ever hear of knocking bro?”

“It’s a tent, genius. Nowhere to knock.” Hopper retorted with his hands on his hips. “ _Just what the hell do you two think you’re doing out here_?” he breathed out harshly through his nose.

The girl shot him an incredulous look. “Ummmm _surely_ you’re aware of the concept of _camping_ , right Officer?” she sassed him with a wry, sarcastic smile.

Hopper narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes, I know what a campsite looks like, wise-ass. But why the hell are you camping out _here_ of all places? Don’t you know this is where Will Byers’ went _missing_ two years back?” He shook his head in disbelief. “ _Really strange shit_ happens around here, kids. It’s not safe for _anyone_ to be loitering about. Especially not at this time of day.”

The young man chuckled at that. “That’s the whole point, bro! We all _know_ the government is lying to us about what’s really going down around here with that creepy lab and shit. We want to find out what kind of halfbreed creatures they’ve been setting loose in the woods this whole time! _We’re truthers, man_.” He pounded his chest proudly as his girlfriend nodded in affirmation.

“I think I might have seen a werewolf a little while ago, Chief,” she stated in all seriousness with wide, manic eyes. “I mean, it was kinda small for a Wolfman, and the fur wasn’t _quite_ the right color, but it howled _real loud and unnatural like_.”

Hopper sighed and shook his head, not in the mood to suffer these fools a second longer than he had to. “Look, by any chance did you bring anyone else out here with you two chuckleheads tonight? I thought I heard a girl laughing out in the woods before.”

“Oh you must mean Gloria,” the bleached blonde affirmed unconcernedly. “Yeah, she went out for a walk a little bit ago. Something about ‘the right time for the fireflies’ or whatever—”  Hopper didn’t bother listening to another word, bolting out of the tent after the woman he loved, his heart sinking quickly as he realized she had actually ventured out into the rapidly darkening wood all alone.

_What in God’s name could she possibly be thinking?_

“GLORIA!” he shouted out into the sweltering night air. “GLORIA WHERE ARE YOU???”

No answer. _What if that weird Shadow-thing had nabbed her?_ He’d never forgive himself if he failed to get to her in time.

“GLORIA!” Hopper bellowed her name over and over again until he was sure his lungs would burst from the effort. _But she just wasn’t there._

He ran like there was no tomorrow, trying and often _failing_ to dodge tree branch after tree branch in his path, ignoring all the little cuts and bruises being slashed across his face from wayward twigs hanging low in the summer wind. He knew when he got home and checked himself out in the mirror he’d be all banged up and black and blue, but he didn’t care. _He had to find her._

Hopper kept racing through the wood until a new light flickered in the darkness. Unlike the warm amber shine of the kerosene lamp from before though, this one was a neon green and kept flicking in and out of sight every couple of seconds. Just like those fireflies he’d seen that time at Gloria’s place.

_Fireflies._

_Gloria’s place._

_Gloria._

He bolted toward the glimmering light like a moth to a flame, the source of the green glow itself all the while moving further and further away from him with every passing second. “GLORIA!” he shouted one last time, praying to God it was really her after all.

“Jim?!” The light abruptly flickered out, casting them both in semi-darkness, but Hopper just heaved an enormous sigh of relief as the voice of the woman he loved echoed out to him from between the trees. “Jim, is that you?!” Gloria moved the particularly tall jar of fireflies in her right hand up to her face, their glow illuminating the shock and confusion on her features at the sight of him standing there, all sweaty and panicked and banged up like no tomorrow.

“Jim, what are you doing here?!” she inquired in utter befuddlement, sprinting on over to where he stood bent over, attempting desperately to catch his breath. “I’m not trespassing on private property am I? Jeff and Tammy said it was okay to set up camp out here.” Gloria shifted slightly under his intense gaze, rubbing her right arm nervously and looking up at him through anxious, limpid eyes.

In that moment Hopper wanted nothing more than to pull her into a tight embrace, yell and scream at her for being such a horse’s ass, then take her home and never let her out of his sight ever again. But he couldn’t allow himself such an indulgence. Men in love did those things, after all, and he wasn’t _supposed_ to be in love with her. 

So Hopper just took one last deep, shuddering breath, wiping a hand across his sweaty, bleeding face before finally addressing her.

“Gloria, what in God’s name do you think you’re doing out in the woods by yourself _at this time of night_?” His voice was quiet but shaking with restrained fury. “You can’t tell me you haven’t heard about what happened to the Byers boy around here.” He grimaced even as he uttered the words; after all the effort he put into trying to keep those two spheres of his life totally separate, willfully colliding them felt akin to a betrayal somehow. So he tried to quickly brush past it. “I don’t know _why_ you’re palling around with those two horse’s asses back there, or why you thought ANY of this was a good idea, but I can’t believe you aren’t smarter than that Gloria. It’s _much too d_ angerous for you to be wandering around out here alone.”

“ _You’re_ wandering around out here alone,” she pointed out blithely, trying and failing to repress a mocking grin at the intensity of his admonishment.

He folded his arms at her cheek, the panic on his face quickly being replaced by a moody scowl. “I’m a _cop_ , Gloria. It’s my job to patrol these areas and make sure there’s no funny business going on. But a small girl your age—”

“ _I’m not a child, Jim_ ,” she cut him off shortly, folding her own arms in turn and quirking an eyebrow up at him daringly. He blanched at the remark.

“I never said you were,” Hopper responded somewhat defensively. “I just mean—”

“You don’t know a thing about me.” The words cut through him sharply, and she wasn’t done gutting him yet. “Not really. You’ve no idea _what_ I’ve been through or what I’m capable of. You’ve no business bossing me around like I'm some dainty  _little girl_.”

She stomped off back from where she came from then, and for a long moment Hopper just stood there, completely dumbfounded. _She’d walloped him right where they_ both _lived._

“Gloria,” he chased after her again after several seconds, his voice far more subdued and calmer now. “Gloria, please, I swear I’m not trying to boss you around. I just don’t want to see you get _hurt_.”

“Alright, alright, _fine_!” She threw her hands in the air and made a sharp left through the trees, rolling her eyes dramatically in the process. “I’ll go back to camp and tell Jeff and Tammy I’m taking off if it’ll get you off my friggin’ back.”

“I’m really not trying to piss you off, Gloria. I’m just trying to make you understand how dangerous this all is. Doesn’t that _bother_ you?”

She paused in her tracks and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, okay, it’s ‘dangerous’. So’s getting on an airplane or riding your motorcycle at night or going surfing at high tide. _Life is risky_. But what’s the point of living if you never _truly feel_ alive, Jim?”

They stared at each other silently for a long moment then. Something finally clicked inside Hopper’s brain that’d been dogging him like crazy since that night at _Hacienda Vieja._ He broke their mutual gaze once a good ten seconds had passed, rubbing his tired eyelids and shaking his head at her a little sadly. “That’s all fine and good, Gloria. _But what about the people who would miss you_ if you go too far and something bad happens?”

Gloria threw her head back and laughed heartily at that. “Honey, I can count on one hand how many people would actually care if I lived or died, and I wouldn’t even have to lift a _finger_.”

“ _I’d_ care.” He didn’t even hesitate. _Helpless to stop himself_.

The sardonic smile was slapped straight off her face at that, and suddenly she seemed unable to meet his gaze at all. “Okay,” Gloria pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger tightly. “Okay, you’re right, I’m sorry, we’ll leave.” Without a second glance back at him, she marched straight back toward the campsite, her countenance grave and rigid like a rock.

Hopper sprinted to keep up with her, trying to think of some clever way to ease the palpable tension between them. “Please tell me you didn’t come out here with those two lunatics to try and find the Wolfman.”

Gloria snorted at that, and Hopper was relieved he could still make her laugh despite the awkwardness of the situation. “ _Noooo,_ Jim. I just missed the thrill of being out in the woods at night. It’s been years since I’ve gotten to go camping. And Jeff and Tammy are actually really nice, if not somewhat misguided.”

“Yeah. _Somewhat_.”

She led him back the rest of the way in silence, the fireflies in her hand continuing to blink on and off every couple of seconds as they all swarmed together around the jar in perfect synchronicity, like a school of fish caught up in a giant whirlpool. If Hopper hadn’t been so distracted trying to bridge the distance between him and Gloria he might have clocked just how unusual that mode of behavior actually was.

“There you are!” The blonde woman, Tammy, exclaimed rather annoyedly at the sight of Gloria trunching back into camp with Hopper by her side. “’Bout damn time you got your skinny behind back here. We all agreed no trying to catch anything on camera without the other two,  _remember_?”

Gloria merely shrugged in response, her smile thin and wan. Just then Jeff approached them from behind, sniffling repeatedly like a child with a bad head cold, a suspicious-looking white powder suddenly dotting his mustache and beard. _Just perfect._

“ _Did you see anything while you were out there?”_ Hopper could hear him whispering frantically into Gloria’s left ear. “Anything with glowing yellow eyes or a lot of fur?”

Gloria shook her head. “No, nothing like that. Sorry to disappoint you,” she added at the dejected expressions on Jeff and Tammy’s faces. “Ummm anyway guys, I kinda promised the Sheriff here we’d hit the road now. Too dangerous to be loitering around this area it seems.” She reached down by a nearby stump and handed Jeff a bright orange pack with a big yellow smiley face that’d been hanging loosely over it.

“But Gloria! It’s not even nine o’clock yet! What if Wolfie comes ‘round back after all, hmmm?”

Gloria took a small breath, clearly repressing the urge to laugh right in her friend’s wild-eyed face. “Listen Jeff, I think the Sheriff is right about this particular site not being all that safe for us to hang out in. Maybe next time we’ll go werewolf hunting by Oakwood Acres, hmmm?”

Tammy heaved an overdramatic sigh. “Whatever. I can’t afford to get arrested again. There’re only so many parents willing to overlook a rap sheet on their nanny. Let’s go Jeff.” She jerked her head toward the tent flap before grabbing her own navy backpack and making her way out to the pumpkin-orange jeep parked a mere ten feet away, a despondent Jeff following  not far behind her.

“I’m sorry if I gave you a scare before,” Gloria finally piped up again as soon as her former companions were well out of earshot.  “ _And_ for snapping at you. You were just trying to look out for me, if anything I ought to be grateful.”

“It’s okay, babydoll,” Hopper whispered tenderly in response. “Just please try to act less recklessly from now on. And maybe not hang out with flaming idiots like Jeff and Tammy. I know you’re the new girl and all, but there has _got_ to be a better selection of friends in this town for you to pal around with.”

She shook her head with a small laugh. “Well it’s nice to know I have _you_ at least looking out for me.”

_That feeling of something being smashed apart in his chest reared its ugly head again._

“Mind strapping me in, hon?” Hopper was broken out of his dark musings as she hoisted a fire engine red backpack over her shoulders, its thick black straps hanging down loosely all the way to her waist. He moved over to where she stood with her back turned to him and began securing the straps firmly around her shoulders, when an _unwanted thought_ suddenly popped inside his brain. Yes, she clearly hadn’t come into contact with that strange Shadow creature that’d be haunting his nightmares for a good few months to come, _but what about the massive bed of crystals he’d tripped over_ _from before?_

_Shit._

“So you obviously didn’t find the Wolfman, but did you see anything ‘funny’ out there at all tonight?” Hopper tried to ask her as nonchalantly as he could, pretending his _true_ focus was on fastening the pack’s thick black cinches more tightly around her arms.

Gloria shook her head. “ _Lots_ of fireflies out to play tonight, and I think I may have even spotted a Great Horned owl, but nope. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Well that’s a relief. The last thing the Department needs right now is another PR nightmare on its hands. Fucking reporters would start swarming _everywhere_...”

As he continued to ramble on in this vein in the hopes of keeping her sufficiently distracted, Hopper flipped the top flap on Gloria’s backpack open ever-so slightly, taking a surreptitious peek inside and breathing a small sigh of relief when he realized all she had in there were binoculars, a camcorder, and a squat little jar, supposedly to catch more fireflies, but empty of everything beyond air. _Not one green crystal in sight, thankfully._ It seemed his two worlds remained successfully separated after all.

Once he and Gloria had successfully finished tearing down her tent, they commenced the trek back to his blazer in anxious silence. Gloria was acting _far_ more warmly to him now though, shooting him smiles every few seconds and reaching her hand out to steady him whenever he stumbled through a particularly thick patch of brambles on ground.

Twenty minutes later and they finally made it to the edge of the woods, Hopper’s blazer still parked where he left it on the corner of Kerley.

“Did you want a ride back to your place?” he offered kindly, hoping the desperation he felt not to let Gloria out of his sight with that Shadow-thing creeping about hadn’t bled through into his voice.

She blushed slightly at the proposal. “Oh no, that’s alright Jim. I’d hate to put you out any more than I already have.”

“It’s not a bother,” he reassured her with a warm smile. “Believe it or not I actually _really_ enjoy spending time with you.” _Dammit Jim, what the hell do you think you’re doing?_

Gloria shook her head with a small laugh, then turned to look back up at him contemplatively, her mirth quickly replacing itself with a shameless leer. “ _My hero_ ,” she whispered before leaning up on tiptoes to capture his mouth in a hot, wet kiss. 

Hopper wrapped his arms around her tightly then, _finally_ getting the chance to do what he’d been longing to do since he first found her out in the woods. _Relishing in the closeness._

“You know,” she began slowly once they broke apart, that meticulously plucked eyebrow of hers quirking up ever-so-slightly in deep thought. “It occurs to me _I really should_ find some way to thank you for being my knight in shining armor tonight.”

It was Hopper’s turn to blush. _She_ _always knew how to stroke his damn ego, didn’t she?_

“S’nothing, babydoll.” He waved off the compliment casually. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Yes, and you do it well.” Gloria cooed at him adoringly before her expression suddenly turned fierce.  Shoving him against a nearby sequoia, her lips began attacking his own now like a woman dying of hunger, only letting him up for air a full minute later.

Shrugging her pack off hurriedly before getting down on bended knee, Gloria made quick work of Hopper’s buttoned down jeans and zipper, shoving his twitching cock into her mouth without so much as a cursory stroke first and sucking him off _so hard_ he thought he saw that crazy swirl of colors again bursting before his eyes.

“ _Holy fuck!_ ” He began shouting in unbridled ecstasy then, fingernails all the while scraping the bark beneath his hands frantically as Gloria swirled the tip of her tongue along the edge of his cockhole, just like she knew he liked. _The goddamn vixen._

It didn’t take much longer for him to cum in thick jets against the inside of her cheek, all of which she took her time swallowing with an almost _taunting_ grin back up at him. As soon as Gloria extricated her lips from around his thick member Hopper picked her up and pinned her tight against the trunk of the tree, face looming mere inches from hers as he stared the brazen young thing down with heavily hooded eyes.

“Y _ou naughty little girl_ ,” he spat at her in an intense whisper several moments later, not giving a shit if she threw it in his face again somewhere down the line. “ _How fucking dare you?_ ”

Gloria mooned up at him with faux-innocence written across her features, eyelashes fluttering wildly all the while. “I was just trying to thank you for being such a good, caring daddy, _Daddy_ ,” she replied with a small bite on the very last word. ”Did I do something wrong? Are you going to come and _punish_ _me_ now?”

“You better believe it,” he growled out through clenched teeth. Hoisting her high up against the sequoia, he yanked her buttonless jeans from around her waist with one quick swipe of the left hand, using his other to rub against her rapidly swelling clit, maneuvering it slowly between his fingers until he was satisfied she was good and wet for him.

“ _Ohhhhh Daddy!_ ” She moaned it wildly with her head leaned all the way back against the trunk of the tree. “ _Oh you’re so damn sweet to your little girl!_ ”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, babydoll.” Hopper quickly withdrew his fingers from inside her, causing Gloria to let out a small whimper at the loss of contact, but then he quickly replaced them with his re-erected dick, rutting into her mercilessly against the tree bark like some wild animal desperate for release.

Gloria's screams began to echo in waves across the surrounding forest, and his weren’t far behind. It took all of five minutes this time to get her to cum, and as Hopper achieved his own orgasm moments later it was all he could do to keep them both vertical against the towering sequoia.

As Hopper managed to gently maneuver her prone form back down to Earth, intending to release her at last from his grip, Gloria just clung onto his shaking body tighter, nuzzling the back of his sweaty neck sweetly with her nose and lips.

“Would you believe I’d never been fucked against a tree before?” she whispered shamelessly in his ear before nipping at the lobe slightly. “Guess I can cross that little doozy off my bucket list now, huh?”

Hopper snorted at her candor. “Yeah, that makes two of us babydoll.”

Gloria leaned her head back once more against the tree trunk to contemplate him fondly. “So I’m guessing you have to get back on patrol soon, but whaddya say we go out again tomorrow night, hmm?” She began twirling a lock of his golden brown hair around her finger enticingly. “There’s an aquarium downtown I really wanted to check out; the twins refuse to let me take them ‘cause they think fish are boring.” Gloria paused to roll her eyes incredulously at that before continuing further, “Maybe you and I could go together instead? I heard they have a Great White there. _Really_ scary shit.” She widened her eyes at him with fervor before bouncing on the balls of her feet beseechingly, _just like always_.

“You mean the _Michiana Aquarium_?” Hopper faltered at the suggestion; the _Michiana_ was a small but _very popular_ hotspot for families about a mile down from where he worked at the Station. Chances were pretty high he’d get recognized by at least _one_ judgmental parent with a big mouth should he ever dare to waltz in there with her. Definitely _not_ the best place to take your quasi-girlfriend when you don’t want the whole town finding out about your relationship any time soon.

“Um, honestly I think the _Michiana_ is a little too _crowded_ for my liking.” Hopper tried to turn her offer down as tactfully as possible, remembering their disaster of a date at _Hacienda Vieja_ and not wanting to risk upsetting her again.“How about we go to the movies instead? There’s a new Rambo flick out right now; plenty of guns, bombs, jet planes, and explosions, the whole works babydoll,” he waggled his eyebrows at her playfully, trying to cajole her into excitement.

But Gloria’s face fell noticeably at the redirection. Swallowing thickly, she took a moment to force a small, appeasing smile back onto her face, her eyes no longer _quite_ reaching up to his though. “Yeah sure, that sounds really awesome, Jim,” she finally replied after several tense seconds in a super chipper tone that sounded just _a little too high_ to be really truly genuine.

He kicked himself mentally for hurting her once again, trying desperately to come up with some way he could convincingly backpedal, but the damage had already been done. _Selfish bastard._

So he just led Gloria her to the passenger side seat of his blazer and chauffeured her all the way home to that _sad_ _little shack_ she called a house. She fell asleep all of five minutes into the drive, and as Hopper kept stealing glances at her unconscious form while waiting for the red light on Willford Avenue to finally change, he knew with everything inside him he was now _way_ past the point of being able to break things off.

But really and truly though: _were his feelings for her such a_ bad _thing after all?_ She could have gotten herself _killed_ tonight by that strange Shadow-creature if he hadn’t come barreling on after her like a man on fire. If he hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t made her leave, who knows what might have happened? He could very well have woken up the next morning to a call from Flo about the body of a dead girl found mutilated in the forest…

Yes, he’d probably never be the best man or even the _right_ man for her, no matter how hard he tried. But Hopper had one advantage over every other schmo in this town whose eye might deign to fall on Gloria: _he could protect her._ He knew this town like the back of his hand and he knew the types of threats lurking about in the darkness. He’d contended with demogorgons and mind-flayers and now crazy apparitions creeping around the forest and had _still_ come out of it all alive. Gloria _might_ have something of a death wish (he really needed to talk her into going for that therapy) but as she’d clearly demonstrated tonight, it didn’t take much in the way of convincing for her to listen to him. _He just had to show her he cared._

So he made up his mind for good right then and there: rather than employ some fruitless effort to try and fight the feeling submerging him, shut her out when he knew full-well that was a one-way ticket to utter misery (and God knows he’d had _more_ than his fair share of that in his life), the only thing to do would be to woo the girl into loving him _back_. And then, they’d take it from there.

And so it was that Jim Hopper purposed himself to make Gloria De Falco fall as helplessly in love with him as he was now with her. And for a little while there, he even managed to convince himself he was actually succeeding.  

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear, seems like our favorite Sheriff's been bit real bad by the love bug. Whatever will he do now???
> 
> I should probably mention real quick that business has picked up for me significantly over the last couple of weeks, so I may not be able to keep updating as regularly as I’d like going forward. Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try, though.
> 
> The lyrics used throughout the chapter were taken from “Ring of Fire” by the late great Johnny Cash, as if y’all didn’t know.
> 
> Comments are love, by the by <3


	7. The Illusion of Exclusivity

“Ooooh yes Daddy, right there. _Keep hitting it right there_. Yeaaaaaah,” Gloria moaned in absolute ecstasy from where she lay writhing under Hopper’s increasingly sweat-slicked body.

He swirled his eager tongue around her cherry pink nipple one last time before climbing up the length of her heaving form to whisper into her ear, “ _Tell Daddy how much you like it, babydoll_.”

Gloria keened even louder this time. “ _Oh my God_ Daddy…I fucking _love_ the way your giant cock feels inside of me!” She began licking a trail of perspiration that had beaded along his beard, occasionally nibbling at his jawbone with her two front teeth just the way she knew he liked. An insatiable Hopper brought her mouth back up to his and sucked her tongue into it ravenously, relishing the strawberries and cream taste that was just so uniquely  _her_. Her moans into his mouth quickly turned into subdued screams, and Hopper knew he had gotten her right on the verge of explosion.  

With a series of bed-shaking thrusts that he half-expected to send his headboard crashing straight into the next room, Gloria came screaming and squirming like a woman on fire beneath him. Hopper for his part had to bury his head between her tits to stifle the sound of his own animal grunting as he shot hot, thick jets of cum deep inside her tight little pussy.

“Oh honey,” Gloria cooed out to him mere moments later in-between heavy pants, “That was without a doubt _the_ most intense orgasm I have ever had. And if you don’t believe me, ask the bedsprings. I don’t think _they’re_ going to be able to stay upright after this either. ”

Hopper chuckled at that, beaming down at her like a Christmas tree as he raked his hand worshipfully through her long autumn hair. All their time together as of late had been just like this, a blissful whir of laughter and lovemaking as he’d intensified his efforts to woo her triplefold. What had started out as meet-ups 2 or 3 times a week were quickly bumped up to 5 or 6 as Hopper magicked new, inconspicuous date ideas out of his ass to ensure he could see her as much as was feasible. And he no longer showed up at her cottage without a single rose in hand now, which she gently poked fun of at first, not having taken him for a “flowers and candy sorta guy”, but now grinned and gave him a long, wet kiss for every time he did.

Gloria on her part had taken to shamelessly doting and fussing over him the more comfortable they became around each other. Always going out of her way to make sure he had enough to eat every time they shared a meal together (the irony wasn’t lost on him as he consistently tried and failed to scrape up the courage to address her self-destructive bathroom habits). Always offering to trim his hair and beard whenever he complained they were starting to grow much too long on him. Always insisting he let her give him a full-body rubdown every other night to work out all the ‘weekly kinks of the job’ (God in heaven were those _fun_ ).

She herself was slowly but surely becoming more blatantly romantic as well, holding his hand as they strolled through the park and insisting they dine by candelight whenever he swung by her cottage for dinner.  

The biggest sign for Hopper though was that despite _all_ the errands she had to run or toys she had to clean or extracurricular activities she had to prep for the twins before they got home from school, Gloria _always_ managed to clear her schedule whenever he wanted to stop by for some afternoon delight. No matter what she might be knee-deep in whenever he called between patrols, she gladly dropped it and gave up a good long hour he knew was probably coming out of her personal time to welcome him with open arms (and legs). Sure, it probably wasn’t what one might conventionally consider a ‘romantic’ gesture. But as Gloria hustled to get ready to pick up the twins from Highcrest Hollow after one such bout of lovemaking and Hopper asked her point blank whether it was all starting to become too much for her, she stopped dead in the middle of yanking on her sundress to look up at him and say, “You’re more than worth it to me, honey.” _Pretty damn romantic_ in his estimation.

Yes, it was plain as day to Hopper that it wouldn’t take very long for his plan to succeed: Gloria was already head over heels _nuts_ about him. It was only a matter of time before she fell completely, he just needed to keep playing his cards right until his instincts told him she was ready to take things to the next level. And then, it would become _much much_ easier for him to protect her from all the strange and unusual entities that apparently didn’t plan on leaving this batshit crazy town anytime soon. It _might_ also make broaching a certain especially difficult subject he knew he couldn’t continue avoiding very much longer a hell of a lot easier as well.

Yes, it was true: no amount of wooing and loving her was going to be enough to cure Gloria of her disease. She had to make the choice for _herself_ to seek help, something even Hopper couldn’t find the strength to do with _his_ particular brand of addiction. But he figured the closer they became relationship-wise, the more she would _trust_ him, and the chances would be better she’d actually _listen_ to what he had to say when the time came. He could only hope, anyway.

Hopper let out a small sigh at the thought before bending down and planting a small, chaste kiss onto Gloria’s slightly parted lips. “So what would you like to do tomorrow night, hmm?” he inquired distractedly while nuzzling the length of her neck with his nose. “We can go back to that little chocolate shop on Mulberry you liked so much. Maybe bring home a cuppa hot fudge and see where the night goes…”  

Gloria pulled away from him slightly and frowned. “Oh I’m sorry, Jim. I actually already have plans for tomorrow evening.”

Hopper pursed his lips into a small pout. “But it’s Sunday night! Don’t tell me the Maitlands’ are making you take the kids to _Chuck E. Cheese_ or some crap.”

She smirked and shook her head. “Nah I just promised a friend we’d spend a little time together. I’ve been blowing them off one too many times lately it seems.”

He paused mid-stroke of her hair to study her expression intently. “Please tell me you’re not going back out into the woods with Frick and Frack to chase Dracula.”

Gloria snorted hard into his shoulder at that. “ _No honey_ , nothing dangerous, I swear. Just a monster-free night on the town with a friend.”

Hopper heaved an overdramatic sighed. “ _Alright_ , but you better make it up to me on Monday. Maybe let me take you back to the park for a follow-up to our last outdoor escapade.”

Gloria reached up to peck him lightly on the lips. “It’s a date.”

***

The following evening found a bored and lonely Hopper sucking down his fourth shot of gin on the corner stool at a crowded-as-hell _Munden’s._ Mohawk was back at the karaoke machine screeching out an especially heinous version of “Up Where We Belong”, and a thirty-something blonde barmaid kept shooting him the eye as she moved in-between tables refilling drinks. Hopper didn’t pay her much mind though; he had tawny hair and hazel eyes and baby-soft skin and positively _perfect_ tits stuck on the brain.

_And speaking of the woman he loved._

At first Hopper was sure his half-drunken mind had imagined her there. Clad in a skin-tight black cocktail dress that just barely came down to the tops of her knees. Her thick tresses pulled into a single braid dangling cavalierly over her right shoulder. Luscious lips so shiny and red they’d make rubies envious. But that wind-chimey giggle began echoing through the bar as Sid the Bartender bellowed a hearty greeting at the sight of her, and Hopper knew she wasn’t just some figment of his lonesome imagination after all.

He grinned to himself, figuring her girls’ night out must have ended early and vaguely wondering if she’d shown up here looking like that in the hopes of running into him. Downing the last of his gin and tonic, Hopper was about to go over and whisper something equal parts flirty and filthy in her pretty porcelain ear, but somebody else beat him to her.

_A tall, dark young man in an impeccably tailored suit and hands that were apparently glued to her ass, to be exact._

It took Hopper’s gin-soaked brain a good ten seconds to begin processing what it was he was actually seeing. And even _then_ he didn’t fully understand until the woman he loved spun merrily in the arms of this other man and planted a long, passionate kiss on his more than eager lips.

_And to think, this whole time he thought the biggest threat he had to worry about was toad-like Toby Maitland moving in on her at work._

_***_

It’s amazing how quickly all of one’s hopes and illusions can go careening straight out the window under the right circumstances. Mere seconds really, Hopper learned the hard way as he sat there rooted to the spot, watching Gloria and that pretentious little shit in his fancy schmancy suit eat each other’s faces in front of everyone at the bar.

So this was her idea of a night on the town with a “friend”, huh?

Hopper’s blood began to boil as ire quickly replaced the shock that had consumed him at seeing her sporting with another man. _She’d lied to him_. Or at the very least, purposely misled him into thinking she was doing something else other than what she clearly was. How long had she been seeing Armani here behind his back, huh? Worse yet, how had his typically spot-on instincts not picked up on it? Diane hadn’t even had to _tell_ him about Bill for Hopper to figure out she’d started dating again a mere month after the separation (her guilty face throughout their divorce proceedings said _everything_ ). Had he really been _that_ blinded by his feelings for Gloria? How could he EVER have been so stupid as to think she was really on the verge of falling in love with him?

Hopper’s breathing became increasingly shallow as he continued to stare fixedly at the shamelessly amorous pair, his hands clenching themselves in and out of fists as he resisted the urge to march right over to them and bend the hand currently resting on her right ass cheek as far back as it would go. 

Fine, then. If this is how she wanted it, two could play that game.

***

_Oh how wrong can you be?_

_Oh to fall in love_

_Was my very first mistake._

_How was I to know?_

_I was far too much in love to see._

_Oh jealousy look at me now._

_Jealousy you got me somehow…_

Fifteen minutes later and Hopper had the blonde barmaid who’d been giving him the eye all night hanging off his beefy arm like they’d known each other for years (Patty or Katie he thought her name must have been, or was it Sandy?). She was going on and on about “always wanting to date a policeman”, but he was only half paying attention, his focus fixed squarely on where Gloria sat up at the bar with her new beau.

Determined to get her to look over at them, Hopper began guffawing almost (alright, probably VERY) obnoxiously, pretending his newly acquired date was the funniest damn woman he’d ever met in his life. It was cruel to encourage her, Hopper knew, but he was too damn angry and too damn drunk to give a shit right now. His efforts were all for naught anyway though as Gloria it seemed couldn’t even be bothered to steal a glance his way, too preoccupied batting those pretty long eyelashes at Armani as his hand finally drifted up from those half-heart ass cheeks to rest dangerously close to her right breast. Conveniently at the exact same time Hopper decided it was time for him and blondie to get _much_   _much_   _rowdier._

“Anyone ever tell you you’re REALLY easy on the eyes, darlin’?!” he practically _shouted_ at the barmaid now, certainly loud enough that heads all over the joint turned to look their way. Except of course for _hers_. Godfuckingdammit.

He chugged the second half of his Schlitz bottle in under a minute and smashed it epically on the floor.

“Whoops!” He guffawed like a madman again, shamelessly cajoling the unwitting woman beside him into following his lead (which she did with gusto, to her credit). The other patrons at the bar were starting to shoot them both super dirty looks now. Gloria meanwhile had moved to sitting in Armani’s lap and was currently nuzzling the length of his jaw with her twin front teeth. Just the way she knew _he_ liked.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Hopper abruptly shrugged the blonde off his shoulder and barreled his way towards the karaoke machine. He would _make_ her notice him. _Make_ her face the awkwardness of what she had done. The _betrayal_ of it all…

…Or he would have, had he realized his shoe was untied and not tripped over the laces spectacularly as he attempted to climb up the stage.

A large “Oooooh” eminated collectively from the crowd. And then a few people actually began to chuckle at his misfortune. Even in his inebriated state, Hopper was self-aware enough to know he’d just made a complete _ass_ of himself in front of everybody at the bar. He slowly, _embarrassedly_ picked himself up off the floor, but his drunken state made it impossible for him to properly regain his balance. He staggered toward the restroom as quickly as he could, his detractors’ laughter growing even louder behind him. Adding insult to injury, Hopper was also apparently far too dazed to remember where the Men’s Room was. So he just lingered in the hallway, leaning against the half-rotted boards of the decades old wooden wall, head in his hands as he struggled to regain his bearings.

“Jim, are you alright?” Her voice came echoing out to him back from where he came, tinged with concern and uncertainty. If Hopper’s face could burn any redder in that moment, he’d have transformed into a fucking _beet_.

He turned to face Gloria slowly. The pitying look on her face somehow destroyed him even more.

Hopper _wanted_ to yell and scream at her. Was dying to ask her how she _dare_ bring that stuff-shirt to _their_ bar, how she could lie to him and go behind his back after everything they’d been through together over the past month. But even though he _finally_ had her alone now, his sense of shame ended up getting the better of him, halting his bitter tongue in the process. So he turned back away from her instead, hoping she’d get the hint and just leave him the hell alone. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just lost my balance is all. One too many gin and tonics tonight I guess. Think I need to go splash some water on my face.”

“O-oh, okay,” Gloria replied slowly, a _wkwardly_. “Um, I think your date’s looking for you though. She seemed kinda worried; you might want to let her know you’re okay once you’ve finished washing up.” Gloria shot him a small smile before taking off to rejoin her other boyfriend back at the bar. Hopper felt like she’d just ripped his heart from his chest, shoved it in a blender and smashed the _Puree_ button without so much as a second-glance.

Here he was tearing himself up inside, making an utter _fool_ of himself trying to make her as gut-wrenchingly jealous as he felt now, and the truth was she just couldn’t be bothered to _care_. He could probably screw Patty or Sandy or whatever the hell her stupid name was right on top of the bar and Gloria wouldn’t even bat an eyelash. What the hell was he fucking doing?

He was being absurd, that’s what. This wasn’t him, Jim Hopper had _never_ let a girl get under his skin this way before. Had his feelings for her really pushed him this far? Or had he just been alone far too long before she came strolling into his life in those five inch high heels?

No, it was her. It was the way she stared up at him in the dark during their lovemaking, the way she giggled at his stupid jokes, the way she stroked his neck when he poured her wine or they were just sitting side by side on his couch watching TV. _It was the pain in her eyes when she talked about her family._ It was his own desire to protect her from monsters unknown. _To push her towards the cure for that wretched disease._

Hopper buried his face back inside his hands and shook himself hard. He was _done_ letting this cold, cruel woman get the better of him. He was finally going to do what he should have done that night back at _Hacienda Vieja_ and just break it all the hell off.

And without another look back, Hopper stomped out through the back exit of the bar, drove off like a bat out of hell in his blazer and took two big fat Xanax to knock himself out for the rest of this miserable night.

***

_Oh how strong can you be_

_With matters of the heart?_

_Life is much too short_

_To while away with tears._

_If only you could see_

_Just what you do to me._

_Oh jealousy you trimmed me up._

_Jealousy you brought me down._

_You bring me sorrow you cause me pain,_

_Jealousy when will you let go?_

_Gotta hold of my possessive mind_

_Turned me into a jealous guy…_

The following morning was utter hell for Hopper. He woke up with a massive headache as a result of taking Xanax on top of one too many shots of gin and beer, Flo wouldn’t stop chewing him out for being a good hour late by the time he finally managed to haul himself into the station, and he found his desk piled-high with police reports upon stepping into his office for the first time since Friday. On top of that, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing every ten minutes, mostly nosy, know-it-all neighbors with nothing better to do than accusing so-and-so next door of stockpiling illegal fireworks in their backyard for Fourth of July prep.

Not only did he _feel_ like a giant pile of shit, he couldn’t even find a spare moment to properly wallow in his misery over the events of the previous evening. They just kept itching like mad in the back of his brain, those images of Gloria and the Suit with his hands all over her and that cavalier look on her face when she’d mentioned the blonde. They were pure torture and he knew there was no pill he could take to keep them from flashing through his brain randomly throughout the day as he struggled to get his work done.

Hopper was just starting to contemplate locking himself up in the bathroom with his pistol when a small knock on thr office door interrupted that train of thought.

“Come in,” he barked out grumpily at his new intruder, only bothering to look up when _she_ cleared her throat loudly from the doorway to capture his attention.

“Gloria?” Hopper’s eyebrows knitted together at the sight of her standing there, fidgeting nervously in place as she waited for him to invite her in. But his jaw immediately set hard and his expression turned ice-faced and stony. “Gloria, what the hell do you think you're doing here?” He folded his arms across his chest huffily. “I’m in the middle of work.”

Gloria moved a few steps closer to where he sat behind his desk and took a long, deep breath. “I think I owe you an apology,” she finally began sheepishly, her dove-like hands pressed together so tightly they were quickly turning vampiric white. “I should _never_ have brought Daniel to _Munden’s_ , I don’t even know what I was thinking. We never go there on Sundays so I guess it just didn’t occur to me that the two of us might run into you there. I’m so so sorry for making things weird.”

Hopper laughed mirthlessly in the face of Gloria’s remorse. “No, no it’s fine. Honestly I’m just glad to know where I stand. Didn’t realize I was only one of several boyfriends you’re currently juggling, although I’m curious where poor Daniel ranks on the list? Does he know he isn’t your ‘one and only’ either?”

Gloria closed her eyes and inhaled sharply at his little barb. “We never said anything about being exclusive, Jim,” she uttered quietly once she’d finally re-opened them. “We’ve _never_ had that discussion, not once. And you’ve never done anything to make me think you wanted something _that_ serious.”

Hopper’s jaw dropped open at that. “I suppose constantly looking for excuses to spend time with you is just me playing hard to get, huh?” His timbre was nothing short of fierce now, eyes blazing with unchecked rage at her audacity. “Dammit Gloria you can’t _possibly_ be that obtuse!” He practically spat the last part out at her, hoping to finally shake her at her core. But she didn’t even flinch.

“It’s hard to consider that a declaration of intent when the very idea of being seen with me by _anyone_ you might know always seems to send you into a fucking frenzy, Jim."

She might as well have slapped him dead across the face. It would have hurt his pride less.

“You know damn well I’m just trying to protect you,” he breathed out dangerously quiet then. “ _You know damn well_ I’m just trying to spare you the petty judgments of people who could never understand what you and I have.”

Gloria snorted and shook her head. “Oh please. All you care about is protecting your precious image. You think I’m stupid, Jim? You think I don’t know how people look at you around here? Heaven forbid they all find out the town hero’s been playing ‘hide the cazzo’ with a skanky little tramp like Gloria De Falco. The _scandal_ of it all!”

He blanched especially hard at that, but she was far from finished yet. “We both know all I am to you is a cheap thrill for when you’re _bored_. But if word ever got out you were palling around with a little _puttana_ like me, you’d drop me like a bad habit in two seconds flat!” Her voice shook hard on the last part, and Hopper thought he spotted a wet trail streaming down her left cheek now, but Gloria would not be deterred. “Well, if you can’t handle it when I spend time with people who aren’t ashamed of actually being _seen_ with me, then maybe it’s best if we just end this now.” She turned on her heel abruptly then, slamming his office door hard in her wake. But he was on his feet immediately after her, not slowing down for a second until he finally managed to catch up to where she stood sobbing on the steps of the precinct entranceway.

“ _You wanna know what you are to me?!”_ He bellowed like a wounded animal as he grabbed her arm from behind, spinning her around to face him and smashing his mouth hard on hers.  _Right then and there, in the middle of downtown Hawkins, with God only knew how many passersby stopping to watch_ _._

“Wow,” was all Gloria could manage to breathe out wispily when he finally decided to let her up for air. She reached up to stroke his cheek softly, _lovingly_ , as Hopper tightened his hold around her, unwilling to lose the feeling of her warm body against his just yet.

“I don’t want you seeing anybody else. And _I_ don’t want to bother with anyone else either _. I really care for you, Gloria_. And I want to date you good and proper. No more dark or empty places, the next time we go out it’s going to be at the fanciest damn restaurant in town. I don’t care who sees or what stupid shit they have to say about it. _I want you_. And I know you want me too.”

Gloria beamed up at him as one last, lone tear leaked out from the corner of her right eye. “I _do_ want you. _Only_ you, Jim.” She pulled his head back down sharply so that their lips met a second time, and Hopper gladly lost himself inside her hunger. _Crashing right into her once more._

“Come with me,” he whispered salaciously in Gloria’s ear before taking her by the hand and leading her back inside his office, Flo and Powell and their owl-eyed stares be damned. After that _doozy_ of a fight they’d just had, he was determined to make the most out of their reconciliation, and banging Gloria’s brains out on that old mahogany desk of his was the best way he could think of right about now.

Flo and Cal couldn’t look him in the eye for a good long month afterwards. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (peeks in shyly) Hey guys, sorry this chapter is a whole week late, the last month has been one HELL of a roller coaster ride as far as my personal life’s been concerned. I wish I could swear to you all that I’ll be able to go back to updating as consistently as I used to, but I don’t want to make any promises I might not be able to keep. 
> 
> I CAN assure you all that I will finish this story no matter how long it takes, and in the meantime I’d like to thank every single person who’s followed the fic thus far. The motivation you all give me knows no bounds ;) Although I do wish some of y’all would leave me comments from time to time…
> 
> Oh, and before I forget, the lyrics used in this chapter were from the song “Jealousy” by Queen, in case you want to look it up (do it!)


	8. Out in the Open

It didn’t take long for word of Hopper and Gloria’s public display of affection to spread like wildfire across their gossipy little town. The very next day, in fact, Hopper found himself on the receiving end of a ten minute-long death glare from crochety old Mrs. Dubcheck as they stood waiting on the checkout line at a particularly crowded CVS. And _that_ was just the beginning.

Everywhere he went over the next several days, whispers followed him. That in and of itself was nothing new: he’d gotten used to it after successfully returning a boy who’d supposedly been dead back to the world with very little in the way of direct explanation. What _did_ bug the living hell outta him were the slurs being thrown at his direction by the particularly small-minded hoity toities with nothing better to do than cast judgments on people they barely even knew. He’d catch bubble-headed tweens at the video store point, stare, and giggle in his direction, the word “cradle-robber” being uttered just loud enough he couldn’t miss it if he tried. The disapproving head shakes of old prudes meandering around the corner donut shop didn’t help either, and phrases like “midlife crisis” and “old enough to be her father” following him as he patrolled the streets for miscreants and petty thieves grated on his nerves so finely, not even his afternoon allotment of Tuinal could settle them down.

The worst of it though were all the nasty comments people would make about Gloria whenever they went out together. A particularly greasy little shitstain by the name of Fred Langley almost ended up on the receiving end of Hopper’s fist in his face when he overheard him joking with his drinking buddies at _Munden’s_ about “gold-digging whores getting younger and younger these days”. He was mere seconds away from decking the guy’s glasses half-way into his skull when Gloria surprisingly beat him to the punch (well, in her case, it was more of a dignified slap, but it left a nasty red mark across the ahole’s cheek nonetheless).

Unfortunately, her retaliation on Langley only ended up making the gossip-mongering ten times worse. Not only was Gloria apparently a gold-digging slut (though what they thought he possessed for her to ‘dig’ for, Hopper could only imagine), she was also “Long Island trash” with “no qualms about beating up on her elders”. Well, according to half the attendees at the Hawkins Town Council’s Fourth of July Prep and Safety Meeting, anyway.

Yes, everything Hopper had feared about their relationship going public was rapidly coming to pass. His reputation as an upstanding authority figure had exponentially dimmed, and Gloria was likewise emerging as the town pariah in the eyes of Hawkins’ particularly self-righteous citizens.

 _But_ , at the end of the day, Hopper found what they had between them now made all the childish taunts and asinine accusations people could toss his way more than worth it.

Maybe it was the euphoria of being in love, and having real, genuine hope that said love could be reciprocated, given enough time anyway. After their reconciliation that morning at the precinct, the pretention of a casual relationship seemed to fall right away, as if a non-spoken understanding had emerged between them rendering such follies pointless.

Since then, they’d had a standing date with each other pretty much every day, both going the extra mile to juggle work and personal commitments as such that they always managed to find enough time for each other. Any morning where Gloria wasn’t whipping him up her famous stuffed French toast in that lilliputian kitchen of hers was made up for by Hopper with a night out at _Chez Pierre_ for the roasted duck. And they each had a ‘drawer’ at each other’s place now (well, in Hopper’s case it was more like _half_ a drawer, but considering Gloria only had space for the one nightstand it was more than understandable). Hopper actually almost let the “L” word slip out as she showed him the space in the little pinewood table she’d cleared out just for him, but his courage once again failed him. They’d only _just_ decided to take their relationship to the next level after all: what if he freaked her out by springing those kinds of feelings on her _that_ quickly? And he didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t say it back. As it was, he was still having a difficult time getting over having had to watch her cavort with another man.

Despite them both agreeing emphatically that they wanted to keep things exclusive going forward, Hopper continued to find his stomach clenching irrationally every time he saw her chatting it up with some other guy, even if it was just the nose-ringed dweeb behind the counter at the video store. Ironic he now missed the days where he thought the only sleaze he had to worry about making passes at her was _Toby fucking Maitland_ (one of the many voices who’d joined in calling him a cradle-robber at the town council meeting, ironically enough).

But Gloria had just been so _remorseful_ since the incident at _Munden’s_ , apologizing over and over again for ‘being such an insecure idiot’, and going out of her way to show him just how much he meant to her (a delectable mixture of finely-cooked meals and sexual favors Hopper didn’t have it in him to resist). As much as her little liaison with the Suit continued to eat at him subconsciously, Hopper couldn’t help but be mollified by the fact that she straight-up _admitted_ it was her insecurity more than anything else that led her to go fool around. But now that things between them were out in the open, she certainly showed no signs of being dissatisfied at all with their relationship and where it was headed; if anything it seemed she couldn’t get _enough_ of him.

So Hopper resolved himself he wasn’t going to let the wagging tongues of idiots or his own suspicious mind get in the way of their happiness moving forward. He lovingly wrapped his arm around Gloria’s shoulders whenever they went out together in public, proudly smirking at the raised eyebrows of the waitresses attending to them at their favorite booth and the other diners with those thoroughly _scandalized_ stares in their direction. He swallowed down his ire every time some pimple-faced nimrod mistook him for her father and flirted with Gloria right in front of him, determined to prove he trusted her now in spite of everything that had happened. _No one_ was going to get in between them again, of that he was determined.

And, on the plus side, it wasn’t as if _everybody_ in town disapproved of their little love affair.

“So, how did you two meet? Tell me _all_ about her. Where did she grow up?” Hopper had just barely crossed the threshold of Joyce’s new condo before his friend began putting him through the Spanish Inquisition as she busied herself digging him out a beer from the fridge.

Hopper raised an eyebrow at Joyce's shameless prying. _They were supposed to be discussing how Jane and Will had been faring together this summer._ Not his love life. But he knew the woman was not to be deterred. “We met at the big Memorial Day barbecue a couple months back. She’s Toby and Martha Maitlands’ nanny, from out on Long Island.”

Joyce instantly lit up at the revelation. “Really? You mean Gloria De Falco?” She took a seat across from him at the kitchen table before passing him his Budweiser and taking a small drag from her own can. “We haven’t had the chance to meet in person but Will’s had _nothing_ but the nicest things to say about her. He’s actually been working over there as the Maitland twins’ science tutor the last few weeks. As I understand Gloria even recommended him for the job.”

“Really?” Something in Hopper’s gut twisted uncomfortably at this revelation, but he waved it off as nothing more than baseless paranoia before taking a long swig of elixir to quell his nerves.

“Ohhhh Hop, you just HAVE to bring her to the barbecue tomorrow!” Joyce insisted with an emphatic ‘bang’ of both hands on the large oak table beneath her. “I’d love a chance to finally meet her. And I had Jonathan stock extra patties in the freezer, just in case.”

Hopper began twirling his fedora between his fingers a little anxiously now. “I uhhh, I don’t know Joyce. _We’re not the most popular people in town right now_. I’d hate to screw up you guys' little shindig.”

Joyce clucked her tongue sharply and waved him off. “Jeez Hop, it’s not like I invited everyone in Hawkins! _That’s the last thing Will and Eleven need right now_.” She stared at him briefly with wide eyes that told him everything that needed to be said. “It’s just the kids and their folks and a few other people around town who’ve been actually half-way decent to us the past couple of years. _Nobody’s_ going to make you two feel uncomfortable. And if they do, well, rest assured they’re going to get a giant earful from me.”

“Thanks Joyce,” Hopper grinned at his old friend and raised his drink to her appreciatively. “And I’d be _happy_ to stop by tomorrow, I just have to run it by Gloria first. The last I spoke to her this morning we’d planned to spend the day out at my place, but I’ll call her once I’m back in the office and see what she says.”

Joyce patted him on the shoulder approvingly before jumping up out of her chair to go grab him another can.

***

It was around two minutes to five when Hopper realized he’d _almost_ forgot all about inviting Gloria to the Byers' party the following afternoon. He’d been half-way out the precinct door to his blazer when he remembered he wouldn’t be seeing her until tomorrow morning, and by then she might get just a little bit _testy_ at him for springing it all on her so suddenly. So he bolted back inside his office and dialed Gloria at her cottage in less than four seconds, her number committed indelibly to his memory now (the thought of which made him grin like an idiot as the phone began to ring). Six buzzes later however and Hopper realized she wasn’t at home. Typically he would have waited until he got back to his trailer to try again, but now that he and Gloria were out in the open, he had no qualms about calling for her directly at the Maitland place. _Catching Toby Maitland during a particularly rough hangover might even make his whole month._

As it turned out he didn’t have to deal with a drunken Toby or even a frosty reception from _dearest Martha_ either when his call was finally picked up.

“Maitland residence. This is Gloria speaking, how may I help you?”

“Hey babydoll,” Hopper cooed at her amorously through the speaker end of the phone. “I tried calling at your house a few minutes ago but there was no answer. Don’t tell me those two old trolls are making you work late tonight?”

Gloria snorted at his candor. “Nah I’m almost done, just finishing up a few things for the twins. Can’t wait to snuggle up and watch the fireworks with you tomorrow, hon.”

“Ummm yeah, about that baby,” Hopper began with an anxious lick of the lips. “I know we said we were just going to kick back on my deck tomorrow, but Joyce Byers invited me to her Fourth of July barbecue, and she was really hoping I’d bring you. Joyce and I go way back, and she’s really not the judgy type at all. I think you’d like her a lot.”

Gloria was silent for a long moment. Hopper worried for a second that the suggestion had upset her somehow. “Babydoll?”

“Yeah, yeah sorry I’m here,” Gloria’s voice broke back out on the other end of the line again, sounding strangely distant somehow. “I just got distracted by something is all. But uh, yeah, I’d _love_ to come to the party tomorrow. You think it’d be okay with Joyce if I brought my world famous potato salad?”

Hopper chuckled at that, feeling _immensely_ relieved. “Sure babydoll. I think she’d be pleased as punch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gloria hung up the phone immediately after bidding goodnight to her beau, turning her attention instead back to the boy fidgeting awkwardly in the outer hallway. _Play it cool, Gloria._

“Everything alright, Will?” She inquired with as sweet a lilt to her voice as she knew how to conjure.  

Will nodded quickly. “Y-yeah, sorry Gloria, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything. I just came to tell you I’m done helping Stef with her Bio homework.”

Her eyes widened instantly at that. “ _Really?_ ” she inquired in slight astonishment. “That’s quite impressive, Will. I swear since you and the other boys started working with her, Stef’s cut down homework time by _half_. It used to take us hours to plow through all those facts and formulas at night.”

Gloria reached around her then to a Donald Duck-shaped jar on the far end of the kitchen counter, yanking out several oatmeal raisin cookies and presenting them to the boy on a small china plate as thanks.

“Oh wow, oatmeal raisin, my favorite!” Will accepted the plate from her gratefully and went to indulge himself in the small coffee nook at the other end of the room. Gloria smirked to herself briefly before moving to take a seat right beside him.

They sat in silence for a long, awkward moment as Will chewed methodically, tossing her a small smile here and there in between big, crumbly bites. _“Little boys can be so_ shy _,”_ Gloria pondered to herself bemusedly as the quiet continued to stretch out uncomfortably between them. Thankfully years of experience in this particular department had taught her the necessity of being patient.

“So um, you’re coming to our Fourth of July party tomorrow, huh?” Will finally offered half-way through demolishing a particularly thick and chewy oatmeal cookie.

Gloria nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, Jim Hopper just invited me. I’m really looking forward to meeting your Mom. She sounds pretty awesome from what I’ve heard about her.”

Will beamed at her compliment of his mother before offering one back up in return. “The Chief’s really cool too. I can see why you two ended up getting together.”

He smiled at her sincerely then, and Gloria found herself pleasantly surprised, something that’d been happening with increased frequency as of late. _This all just might end up being easier than she’d thought..._

“Yes, I uh, I understand you and he are well-acquainted...” she deliberately let it hang there for the moment, knowing better than to push too far too soon. _Slow and steady wins the race._

“Yeah,” Will began again uncertainly, gaze turned back to his plate now, unable to look her in the eye.

 _Goddammit_.

“He uh, he kinda saved my life a couple years back.”

Gloria nodded slowly, as if dealing with a particularly jumpy animal out in the woods. “Yes, I heard about all that from Mrs. Maitland,” she muttered quietly, features rearranged themselves into a sympathetic moon. “I uh, I imagine that whole ordeal had to have been pretty harrowing for you, Will. You must have been really scared.”

“Mmhm,” was all the boy uttered back in response, joined briefly by a small shrug and a much longer flash of the eyes toward the kitchen door.

_Shit, Gloria. Shit._

“You must be made of some really strong stuff, Will,” she began again with a new approach this time. _Everyone responds to flattery, after all. Whether they think so or not_. “Not many people your age could square off with death and come out of it so well-adjusted. It’s a sign of remarkable resilience in a person.”

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” the boy flushed scarlet and began fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat beside her. Gloria chastised herself briefly for coming on so strong before expertly backpedaling the best way she knew how.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry or anything. I’m sure you get more than enough busybodies sticking their noses into your affairs around these parts.” She raised a knowing eyebrow at him then, and Will nodded briefly in affirmation, shifting in his seat slightly to look at her once more.

Gloria wetted her lips delicately before resuming her trend of thought, “I just mean…I admire your ability to bounce back so quickly in spite of it all. I don’t think many people could do that, especially someone so young. You’re very brave.”

Will remained silent for a good several seconds, and the older woman sat breathlessly beside him the entire time, wondering if she’d finally pushed him too far. _But it seemed she’d hit all the right buttons after all._

“I don’t _feel_ all that brave,” the boy finally replied in a shaky voice, looking her dead in the face now with a small, sad crinkle in his eyes.

Gloria tilted her head inquisitively. “What do you mean, dear?”

The boy took a deep breath. “Everyone around here thinks I’ve gone back to normal and everything’s just honky dory now. But—“ he hesitated again, clearly struggling with just how much he ought to tell her. _If only he knew…_

"There’s just been so many times where I wanted to lock myself in my room and not come out for days,” he finally let out with a giant sigh, cradling his forehead anguishedly in his hands. “I still do quite often, if I’m honest. I don’t _feel_ the same, no matter how much therapy I get or what exercises I try or how much Mom and Jonathan try to help me. All I want is to go back to the way I was before this whole mess happened, but… I’m just not sure I ever will be.”

Gloria paused for a moment, contemplating her next move pensively, but then finally decided she’d gotten him plenty comfortable with her now and laid a reassuring hand atop his own. “I know it may not seem like it right now hon, but I promise you _will_ find the strength you need to get on with life eventually. You just need to give yourself _time_.”

Will chortled lightly then. “Don’t suppose I can get that in writing, can I?” he threw out at her somewhat disbelievingly.

“I get that this all probably seems like just a bunch of meaningless platitudes, but trust me Will, _I know what I’m talking about_.” _Good, Gloria. Toss in the bait and just sit pretty ‘til he bites._

“What do you mean?” the boy barely hesitated to ask with raised eyebrows and a small frown.

Gloria swallowed thickly as the opening she’d been waiting for had _finally_ emerged, and decided now was as good a time as any to barrel on through. “I uh…I had to have an operation on my heart once…when I was a little younger than you,” She turned her gaze down to her lap now, the impression of strained emotion permeating her every feature as she continued, “I was born with a septal defect; it basically means I had a small hole between my ventricles. Nothing all that terrible happened for those first few years, but as I got older it started affecting my breathing pretty bad.” She began to shudder slightly as the memories came flooding on back to her. _Focus, Gloria, you’re too close now to stray._

“So shortly after my eleventh birthday the doctors decided to put me under, crack open my chest and see what they could do about it. But something went _wrong_ about half-way through and, and I was actually dead on the table for a good three minutes. Or so the they told me afterwards.”

 Gloria paused here to give the boy time to absorb the revelation, not wanting to hit him too hard or fast again _. Mistakes are only valuable if we learn from them,_ Dr. Honeycutt had always told her…

“Anyway,” Gloria began again when she was sure she had her companion’s rapt attention. “While I was ‘gone’ I…I think I went to another place. Hell, I’m not even sure you could call it a ‘place’. But it was different, _soooo_ very different from here," Gloria's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her arms began to shake like mad, the same crackling _electric_ energy coursing through her veins that always did whenever she recounted this particular experience to another. "It felt like being absorbed into the most _vivid mass of light and color_ you could possibly imagine. Nothing I could see had ‘shape’ but, but nothing _needed_ shape, if that makes any sense? Everything was just _everywhere_ all at once. And my sense of time was all off over there, too. When they brought me ‘back’, it’d felt like I’d been gone an entire week, even though less than five minutes had actually passed. But the _strangest_ part of the experience were the Others I saw while I was there...”

She spared another glance to the boy on her right now, finding him practically on the edge of his seat, his breathing becoming increasingly shallow as his eyebrows practically burrowed head on into themselves. _She’d hit him pretty close to where he lives, after all_.

“W-what kinds of ‘Others’?”

Gloria closed her eyes tight and shook her head back and forth vigorously. _She’d gifted him just enough, it was_ his _turn to share now._ “My God I…I’ve never found the words to properly describe them. I’m not sure there’s any picture you could even form in your mind...if you haven’t actually _seen_  them for yourself.”

Will took a pregnant pause before the words came spilling out from his lips in a small flood. “ _I’ve seen a thing or two myself out there_.”

Gloria shifted her body to face him dead-on now, eyebrows raising themselves slightly as if in uncertainty.  “What sorts of things, Will?”

The boy bit his lip hard before opening his mouth once more to respond, but whatever it was he was about to tell her, Gloria never knew, as just then a sharp _tap! tap! tap!_ at the kitchen door put an end to their little exchange for good.

Gloria’s eyes snapped straight to the door, darting back and forth between it and the boy beside her before seemingly making a decision. “It’s open!” her voice rang out pleasantly through the kitchen, betraying her actual mood just then entirely. _She’d been so close._  

The door swung open with a sharp bang, and a teenage girl with a long mop of chocolate brown hair and the eyes to match marched in without a word until she was standing face to face with the older woman and the boy beside her across the kitchen table.

“El, what the heck are you doing here?” A thoroughly startled Will inquired with a disbelieving look in his eyes.

Eleven was silent for several intense seconds, gaze fixed pointedly at Gloria, who once again found herself unable to look away. _Bewitching little creature…_

The girl cleared her throat briefly before turning her full attention to her rattled brother in the next seat. “Mom needs us to stop by _Party City_ to pick up some more paper plates and cups for the barbecue tomorrow. They’re only open an extra half hour tonight; we need to get over there before they close.”

“Oh,” Will’s brow furrowed confusedly at the explanation. “Um, okay. I’ll be out in a minute.” He nodded at his sister as if expecting her to go wait for him outside, but she just stood stock still, eyes boring into his unwaveringly.

“I uh, I guess I better get going now,” Will finally ended up muttering to the woman beside him with an apologetic smile. Gloria forced a small grin on her own face as she stood up to show him and the girl politely back out through the kitchen door.

“I guess I’ll see you guys at the party tomorrow. Get home safe.” She and Will exchanged small waves before the latter followed his sister out into the front yard where their bikes stood waiting for them chained up in the outer driveway. As she quickly shut the door and locked it behind her Gloria forced herself to take several long, deep breaths as the bile creeping up in her throat threatened to spill out all over the kitchen floor. _Not now, not now._

She poured herself a tall glass of ginger ale from the fridge and downed it all in four steady gulps just as little Paulie whined out to her from the play area about needing more popsicles for his in-progress stick house.

“Coming, sweetie,” she assured him with a long, low sigh, rubbing her temples between her thumb and forefinger as she struggled to reassure herself that _today hadn’t really been a failure, after all._ She’d laid a lot of groundwork with the boy, and if she played her cards right, she’d find a way to get him alone again at the party tomorrow.

 _"Tomorrow, Gloria,"_ she repeated it to herself over and over again, a mantra of sorts to quell the furious tide currently eating away at her from the inside out. " _Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…"_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You need to stop coming to this house.” They were out of the Maitlands’ front yard all of ten seconds before Eleven issued the demand without so much as glancing in his direction.

Will snapped his head abruptly from the road then to stare at his foster sister wide-eyed. “What are you talking about? I _work_ here now. It’s good money. I’m almost done saving for that new _Walkman_ I’ve had my eye on.”

El shook her head firmly as she continued to pedal with furious intensity down the long, narrow road. “ _You need to stay away from that woman, Will._ Do you understand me?”

Will’s mouth practically dropped into his lap at that. “Look El, I get you’re still spooked by what happened that day with the weird rock thingy, but you’re acting completely ridiculous now. _There’s nothing funny going on here._ Gloria’s a perfectly nice, normal lady.”

But El just let out a long, solemn sigh. “No Will,” she finally turned to look at him properly now, her features thoroughly tensed, expression stone-cold grim. “ _No, she’s not_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dum dum DUMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Kaboom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PSA guys—it’s important to me that this fic gel right with the outcomes of both seasons 1 AND 2 of the show, but obviously several events transpired in the last batch of EPS I hadn’t counted on AT ALL (poor Bob). Soooooo I went back throughout the story and edited some things to fit more in line with everything that would have taken place between S2 and where this fic is set. Most notably I’ve included a bunch of references to the fact that El had been living as Hopper’s intended daughter for quite a while and he still very much sees her as his little Jane, even though as far as this story is concerned, she hasn’t been staying with him for quite some time. It isn’t at all necessary though that you go back and reread the previous chapters: just know that going forward the characters are going to act like everything in season 2 did indeed happen, rather than behaving all OC or even AU. With that being said, please enjoy this (long-overdue, I know) update. This is where things proceed to get verrrrrrry juicy for our starring couple, so grab the popcorn…

July 4th, 1985 dawned clear, bright, and breezy: the perfect day for a good old fashioned barbecue with friends… _for anyone else_. But the fresh air and sunshine did little to quell Hopper’s burgeoning anxiety as he sat huffing away on a freshly-lit Camel in the driver’s seat of his blazer, waiting on his Gloria to finally emerge out of that tiny shitshack her employers called a house. Introducing the new girlfriend to one’s chums for the first time would be a nerve-wracking prospect for _anyone_ , but for someone like _him_ and _his_ particular brand of friends, trying to mesh his twenty-three-year-old, LI sex-pot of a girlfriend into their little group felt _particularly_  strange and awkward.   _How the hell had he let Joyce talk him into this?_

He especially worried what his little Jane was going to think of her. Hopper knew it was silly—she hadn’t been ‘his’ in months and probably never would be again. Not after that musty old sonofabitch had creeped inside her brain and told her what he’d done that night at the Lab…

For a brief moment he was relieved of his troubled musings at the sight of his lady love emerging from her little cottage with a giant vat of creamy potato salad in hand, a red, white, and blue sundress barely reaching all the way down to cover those marbelesque knees. But as said sundress began blowing about in the warm July wind it quickly became apparent just how much lither and more delicate she’d become in the last week _alone_ , and Hopper once again found himself tormented by his gaping failures when it came to the people he loved.  

All this time since he’d pieced together her secret and he STILL hadn’t mustered the courage to try and talk her into getting help. Deep down he knew it was because he was terrified she would tell him to get fucked, and the thought of losing _her_ after everything and everyone else he’d already lost was entirely unbearable. Still though, how long could he feasibly use that as an excuse to keep quiet, even to himself?

“Hey, Stranger,” she greeted him slyly as she climbed into the passenger side of the truck with a smile as bright and dazzling as the summer sun itself.

“Hey yourself, Stunner,” Hopper swallowed his fear and anxieties _down, down, all the way down_ and forced a giant plastic smile on his face as she planted a tiny peck in the middle of his cheek. “Beautiful day, huh?” Hopper reignited the car engine, waiting for it to cool a full minute before commencing their trek to the Byers’ condo.

“Yeah, it’s wonderful. I’m _so_ relieved those idiot weathermen on Channel 2 got it wrong. 4 th of July was always the best part of summer for me, I always get sad whenever it’s rained out.”

“I’d imagine you guys had a blast every 4th out at those fabulous Montauk beaches, huh?”

“Oh yeah,” Gloria leaned her head back against the passenger side head rest and closed her eyes dreamily as the memories came flooding back. “My family and I used to take my father’s boat on the water and watch the fireworks from out at sea. It was _magic_.”

She opened her eyes once more then, something soft and sad having settled into them on the last word. Hopper was sorely tempted to prod a little bit deeper but resisted the urge; he wanted Gloria to make the best impression possible today, and working her into an emotional frenzy before-hand would be a pretty idiotic move, even for him.

***

In what felt like no time at all they were turning the corner into Hathaway Park, a quaint little middle-class community on the northern side of Hawkins, conveniently gated (no wonder Joyce picked it) and located smack dab in the middle of Oakdale Woods. Another minute of driving around the development and they’d finally arrived at the Byers’ new condo, a recently-erected Cape (or so Joyce had told him, whatever the hell a ‘Cape’ actually was) with a gorgeous mahogany patio and pretty pink shutters he knew Joyce, Will, and Jane had specially painted to decorate each of the doghouse-style windows. Every time he stood in front of the place Hopper marveled at just how GENEROUS the Indiana municipality had ended up being with its payouts to any and every Hawkins’ family affected by the supposed ‘radiation leak’. Jonathan and Nancy must be so proud of all the fruits their hard work had wrought…

Gloria had barely pressed in the doorbell with an expertly decorated red, white, and blue fingernail when the pink oak door swung all the way open, and an out-of-breath Will Byers appeared in its now-empty frame.

“Hi Gloria!” He ignored Hopper completely, gaze focused singularly on the woman beside him, although Hop couldn’t help but notice there was something _off_ about the way he worried his lip at the sight of her like an anxious little school boy. That was definitely _not_ typical of Will Byers, not at all.

“Hey Will,” Gloria bent down and gave him a (particularly lengthy) hug. “How are you doing today, sweetie? Everything alright?”

Before Will could answer Jane appeared over his shoulder, arms folded, that trademark pained scowl Hopper always seemed to be on the receiving end of whenever they wound up in the same room as of late planted on her round, pale face.

“Will, Mom needs you. _Now_.” She jerked her head sharply toward the sliding glass door on the other side of the room.  

Will swallowed thickly. “Yeah okay I’m coming,” he trudged off to the back yard with a strangely disappointed look on his face. Jane paused briefly to cast Gloria a dirty look and an _even longer one_ at Hopper before following in her foster brother’s wake.

Hopper sighed. Today was going to be a DOOZY after all. He sincerely hoped Joyce stocked _a shit ton of beer_ in that mini-cooler of hers.

***

“Hey Hop,” Joyce greeted him warmly as he made his way out onto the back deck before turning her attentions to his guest beside him. “And _you_ must be Gloria,” she relieved the other woman of the giant Tupperware bowl of potato salad she’d been cradling the entire trek from the car before continuing, “I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you. It’s really nice to finally get to meet you in person.”

She quickly wrapped the girl in a friendly embrace, one Gloria returned enthusiastically.

“Hi Joyce. Thanks so much for the invite today, it’s so lovely to get to know more of Jim’s friends. And what a _stunning_ home you have here. Did you decorate it all yourself? You have _quite_ the eye for feng shui.”

Hopper couldn’t help but grin like the Cheshire Cat himself as he watched his girlfriend handily win over his oldest friend in five seconds flat. _Leave it to Gloria to be the epitome of charm and grace, as usual._ Maybe he was silly for worrying about how today was going to go after all…

“So _you’re_ the lady who finally convinced my little brother to get a job,” a thoroughly tanned Nancy Wheeler showed up at Joyce’s side just then, eyeing Gloria up and down with avid interest. “I’m Nancy Wheeler. And may I say, thank you, thank you, _thank you_ for getting the little turd out of the house twice a week. Makes my summer break soooo much more enjoyable.”

Gloria giggled her trademark wind-chimey laugh at that. “Well, I’m nothing if not helpful.”

“Nancy is my older boy’s girlfriend,” Joyce informed her with a proud smile at the eighteen-year-old. “Speaking of which Nancy: where’s my first-born gotten off to anyway?”

“Oh he’s over by the balcony, taking pictures of everyone and everything, as usual.”

Joyce shook her head with a wry smile. “ _Yeah that sounds about right._ Hey Jonathan!” she bellowed out at the boy from across the deck. “Get over here! I want you to meet somebody!”

Jonathan smiled sheepishly over his shoulder as he snapped one last picture of little Erica Sinclair, who seemed to be in the middle of attempting a poorly conceived cartwheel across one of Joyce’s picnic tables, before trotting over to where his mother and girlfriend stood loitering by the sliding glass door.

“Gloria, this is my son Jonathan. Jonathan, this is Gloria De Falco. She’s the lady who got Will that tutoring job with the Maitlands.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Jonathan stuck out his hand for a shake, or he _would have_ if his right arm hadn’t gotten caught in his camera neckstrap, currently swinging wildly in the wind.

“Oh Jonny Boy,” Nancy teased with a small roll of her eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if I did you any favors buying you that replacement Pentax after all.”

“C’mon now Nance, you know I need as much decent material in my portfolio as I can get if I’m they’re ever even going to _consider_ me for NYU.”

“ _You’re going for NYU?_ ” Gloria mooned instantly at the revelation. “I’m actually an alumni there, it’s an AWESOME school. Perfect for soulful types like us,” she added with a small wink at the younger boy. “A couple of my old professors are actually on the Board now. I’ll try putting in a good word for you with them. Can’t promise anything of course, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Really?!” Jonathan’s eyes expanded to the shape of saucers. “Wow, thanks Ms. De Falco.” Jonathan shook her hand in his vigorously. Hopper beamed at her brighter than the moon.

***

The next couple of hours passed by in the same relatively pleasant (if somewhat awkward) vein. After politely enduring a good twenty minutes of Ted Wheeler’s tedious ramblings on the countless virtues of their new president, Hopper managed to find a way to free himself from the monotony of the adult’s table and stuff his face with some surprisingly decent _Melvald’s_ hot dogs. Gloria’s German potato salad was naturally to die for, and he would have told her so too if her time weren’t being firmly monopolized by an overeager Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, all of whom were apparently taking advantage of her presence to boast endlessly over their progress tutoring little Stef and Paulie. Will for some strange reason however remained separated from the bunch, sitting in the corner picnic bench by the balcony far removed from them. Though his eyes kept glancing up to where his friends and Gloria sat at the other table, as if he too wished to join them, something appeared to be holding him back, but just what, Hopper couldn’t be sure. To Will’s left sat a strangely moody Max, who as far as Hopper knew typically loved the summer holidays but now sat quietly pushing her potato salad around her plate with a plastic fork and jumping every time a firecracker exploded in the distance.

 _What the hell was that all about?_ Hopper pondered to himself with a small frown. Max was typically the _least_ jittery kid in their little Brat Pack. He turned to try and give Lucas the eye, wondering vaguely if maybe the two had broken up over the summer and THAT was why she was acting so odd, when he noticed Gloria too was staring fixedly over the boys’ shoulders at the girl, a small crinkle appearing over the space between her eyebrows. Hopper figured being a nanny she must be especially sensitive to kids’ sad moods. Somehow it made him love her even more, if it were possible…

Just then an obnoxiously loud slurp broke him out of his reverie. On Will’s other side Jane sat almost uncomfortably close, angrily sipping coke but staring at nothing in particular. In his heart Hopper knew she was furious he decided to show up to their party after all. The last several months after everything had come out in the open, since she’d found out about that damn dirty deal he’d made what felt like a _lifetime_ ago… he’d done his best to try and give her some space to lick her wounds. Hoping after enough time had passed she’d miss him too much to stay away, come knocking at his trailer door and beg to go back with him to his grandfather’s cabin. _To the life they’d built together, piece by piece at a time._

He’d used a similar tactic with Diane after Sara died. It hadn’t worked then, either.

Maybe it was all the beers he’d indulged himself in over the course of the afternoon. Or perhaps it was actually a mixture of being half-intoxicated, and the fact that his girlfriend seemed to blend in so effortlessly with his group despite all his fears to the contrary. But something especially bold had stirred inside him, propelling Hopper to beeline towards where his one-time daughter sat sulking on Joyce’s _FunTimes_ picnic bench. _Something inside him that wanted to have it all, just this once..._

“Hey, Jane.”

The girl stirred abruptly in her seat at the sound of his voice, but she ended up just flashing him a particularly annoyed look before turning her back on him, content to continue pretending he simply didn’t exist. Hopper sighed.

“So is this how it’s gonna be forever, huh?” He shot out at her sardonically with his hands on his hips. “After _everything_ we’ve been through together kid, you’re really just going to ignore me from here on out?”

“I don’t…speak…to _traitors_ ,” she growled out at Hopper slowly, not even bothering to face him as she uttered the words through clenched teeth.

Hopper wiped a hand over the sweat now beading all along his forehead before finally mustering the courage to speak up once more.

“Jane I didn't betray you…if you'd just let me explain—"

"You had plenty of time to explain. _You chose to lie_."

"It wasn't a lie, Jane!" he insisted with a small pound on the wooden table beneath them. "I just didn’t tell you the full story. _I wanted to though, so so many times_. But I…I was afraid you wouldn’t understand why I did what I did, and clearly I was right because _you obviously don’t_.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand.” She finally turned back to look him straight-on now, all the hurt and pain that’d been written in her eyes the day she’d come marching into the Station to confront him the first time over this now etched all over them once more. “I don’t understand how you could sell me out to Papa and then try and ‘play house’ with me after.”

Hopper swallowed hard at that, wondering idly from whom she’d picked up the particular phrasing of _that_ sentiment from. A part of him hoped whoever it had been was close enough to hear what he growled out at her next.

“Dammit Jane! I only did what I did because I was trying to save Will. And Dustin. And Lucas. AND MIKE!” he half-spat the last name in her face, trying and succeeding in making her blanch hard where she sat. “But despite what that psycho son of a whore might have told you _: I wasn’t going to just give up and leave you with him_. I would have found a way to smuggle you out of the school with the others, I just never got the chance!”

“And what if you couldn’t have, hmmm? _What if they’d gotten me first?_ ”

They were starting to get looks from the other side of the deck now. Gloria’s eyebrows were raised concernedly as Jane’s voice grew louder and louder on every harsh word. Hopper cursed under his breath before turning back to the angry little brunette standing unflinchingly toe-to-toe with him now.

“Jane, you wanna have this argument now? Maybe we should just take it inside.”

“No point. I have nothing left to say.” She stormed off towards the soda cooler then without so much as a cursory look back. _And that was that._

Hopper sighed. So much for having it all…

“Everything okay, sweetie?” He quickly tensed once more as he felt Gloria’s hand reach up to stroke the middle of his back softly, her voice laced with concern. He turned to stare in those sparkly sandalwood eyes, briefly contemplating telling her the truth about him and Jane (well, as much of the truth that didn’t involve psychic powers and monsters from other dimensions), but ultimately decided he didn’t want to ruin the 4th of July with his own domestic problems. So he forced a big grin on his face once again before pulling her in for a sweet little kiss.

“Eh it’s nothin’ babydoll. Just kids being kids is all.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together uncertainly at that. “You sound like you’ve had a run-in with her before?”

Hopper scratched the back of his neck nervously. “You might say that…”

“Oh my, she’s not a runaway is she?”

“No no, well…” Hopper hemmed and hawed, not really sure what the most plausible story he could tell her about Jane’s emergence in their little town was.  Before he could even wrap his brain around what to say next, a large swath of wave-like hair belonging to one Steve Harrington appeared out of nowhere over Gloria’s right shoulder.

“Hey Chief! What’s up? Have another falling out with Joltin’ Jane over there?”

Hopper’s eyes doubled to twice their size as he jerked his head sharply at the young woman next to him. Steve’s eyes instantly panicked, but Gloria didn’t seem to notice anything strange having transpired between them.

“Poor El seems to be in bad sorts today,” she explained to the teenager with a small frown. “I kinda get the sense she’s a bit _withdrawn_ compared to the other kids.”

“Yeah she’s not exactly the Social Butterfly of that little group,” Steve chimed in expertly as he nodded toward the younger kids currently stuffing their faces with triple decker hamburgers. “Takes a lot for me to ever get anything out of her. Dustin says she’s still learning basic social graces, but still.”

“Oooh, are you their nanny?” Gloria inquired in earnest. It took every ounce of willpower Hopper possessed not to laugh.

Steve blushed slightly. “N-no, not the nanny, just an occasional babysitter really. But now that you mention it, with all the times I end up looking after the little Nose-Pickers, I really should be netting a nanny’s salary.”

“It’s not much sexier than a babysitter’s, I can assure you,” Gloria bemoaned with a long swig from the Corona she’d been nursing all afternoon.

“Still though, you gotta command waaaay more respect than a run-of-the-mill babysitter. Mrs. Henderson barely leaves me a half-hour to come pick up Dustin whenever she wants to go on a spur-of-the moment date with old Mr. Garfunckle on _Peoria_.”

Gloria snorted incredulously. “Yeaaaaah tell that to Martha Maitland. That lady had me up all night, _every_ night last week with her Mump-ridden son because she needed to make sure her ‘beauty sleep regimen’ didn’t get interrupted.”

A weird feeling in the back recesses of Hopper’s mind began to stir at that. _Something about that story seemed awfully familiar…_

“Well, maybe if you play your cards right ol’ Hopper over here will find it in him to make an honest woman out of you someday and you can kiss the little droolers’ goodbye.”

Hopper’s face turned stop-light red at that. The Harrington kid was really cruisin’ for a bruisin’ today wasn’t he…

“Ya know Steve, I’m kind of surprised to run into you here to be honest…” Hopper nodded conspicuously at Nancy, currently preoccupied dancing with Jonathan to ‘Saturday in the Park’ by the latter’s speaker system set up on the other end of the deck. “Would have thought it’d be a bit too awkward for ya, what with your ex and the guy she dumped you for acting all ‘lovey dovey’ with each other every chance they get.”

Steve chuckled slightly at Hopper’s little barb before shaking his head. “Nah Chief, Nance and I are all good. Besides, I uh, I kinda met someone at Hawkins Community…” He began fishing through the back-pocket of his jeans then, not stopping until he’d dug out a half-crinkled photograph and flashed it smugly under Hopper’s nose. A buxom blonde with big blue eyes and disconcertingly-straight teeth stared right on back at him.

“That’s Svetlana. She’s an exchange student from Lithuania. She uh, really gets me, if ya know what I mean,” Steve waggled his eyebrows at the older man tellingly.

Hopper resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead flashed the teenager a simple thumbs up after handing him back the photo. Steve returned in kind by nodding towards Gloria, now preoccupied chatting it up with Irma and Ronald Sinclair, and shooting him a coy little wink of approval.  

Hopper shook his head and laughed, finally finding himself at ease again after his confrontation with Jane, resolving himself to enjoy the rest of the party no matter what.

_And of course that’s when everything went straight to hell._

***

It had finally grown dark enough to appreciate a proper fireworks display around nine o’clock that evening.  Jonathan ducked into the garage with a goofy smile on his face, returning moments later with half a pound of _Lotus_ fireworks under his right arm. It took the boy all of ten minutes to get each rocket correctly inserted into the display he’d arranged earlier in the day, Will handing him the lighter punk as the rest of the guests crowded together in the middle of the deck to watch.

_Kaboom. Kaboom. Kaboom._

“Oooooh look Dusty, so preeeeety!” Mrs. Henderson mooned at the shower of exploding purple fire and light somewhere to Hopper’s left, shaking a thoroughly-harassed looking Dustin beside her.

“I see them, Mom. _I’m not blind_.”

Hopper grinned and turned to find Gloria, hoping to use the newly romantic atmosphere as an excuse to make out, but she was nowhere to be spotted on the deck. After doing a couple more sweeps around Joyce’s backyard it occurred to him she’d probably elected to take advantage of everyone’s distraction to go and empty herself of all the delicious barbecue food they’d just gorged themselves on. He stifled the giant pang of guilt and unease bubbling up inside him. _Did she really have to go and purge at_ every _event they went to together?_

“Ummmm where’s Will and El?” Mike asked suddenly from somewhere to Hopper’s right as a ruby-red firework exploded directly overhead. “Not like them to skip something like this.”

Hopper frowned, his gaze scanning the deck once more as he realized that they too were no longer present in the group’s company. _How the hell had those three all slipped out without his notice?_ He must have downed one too many Schlitzes in the past few hours…

“Ohhhh, maybe the loud noises are a little too much for them after—” Joyce caught herself just in time, shooting a surreptitious glance at Karen Wheeler beside her before shaking herself firmly. “I’ll go get them. I’m sure they’d wind up regretting missing this after all.” She disappeared into the house as a cascade of orange and gold crackers set the night sky ablaze one by one, returning ten long minutes later looking ashen and panic-stricken. “Guys they’re not in the house! _I can’t find them anywhere!_ ”

Everyone in the Inner Circle all exchanged looks for a pregnant pause before darting off every which way across Joyce’s property.

“WILL?! EL?!” Their shouts were made mute as Jonathan’s rockets continued to explode like canon-fire above them.

“JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE?!” Hopper screamed her name into the stifling July air so hard he thought his lungs might burst. _HOW in God’s name could this be happening now?_

“ELEVEN?!” Harrington bellowed out somewhere close behind him. “WILL?! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!?!?!”

Hopper stifled terrified tears as he continued to dash around the entire perimeter of the house like a deranged mad man. _Oh God oh God oh God. Shouldn’t closing the gate have put an end to all this shit? How could they_ both _be missing at the same damn time?_ “WILL!!!! JANE!!!!! PLEASE ANSWER ME!!!!!!”

“HOPPER!” He quickly muttered a quiet prayer of thanks as Jane’s voice’s _finally_ echoed back to him from somewhere out in the darkness . “HOPPER COME QUICK! _PLEASE!_ ”

Hopper clocked her voice as coming from somewhere in the surrounding wood. He bolted straight for a nearby cluster of trees, Harrington not far behind him.

“JANE?! JANE WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“OVER HERE! HUUUUURRRRY!”

Hopper barreled his way through the trees like a bulldozer until he finally spotted her and a thoroughly terrified Will…

… _hovering over Gloria’s motionless body_.

For a second it felt as if time itself had stopped and the rest of the world had all fallen away. All that existed now was Hopper and the woman he loved lying still and silent as the grave beneath him.

_Just like his Sara…_

Hopper’s knees buckled in on themselves as he desperately crawled on hand and knee through the forest bramble toward her.

“STEVE! GO CALL 911, _NOOOOOW_!!!!!!!!”

Hopper heard Harrington take off like a bat outta hell for the house as he finally reached her prone form on the grass. For a brief moment his eyes turned up to meet Jane’s, but she immediately shook her head as a stream of furious tears came flooding down her anguished face.

“I didn’t do this to her Hop, _I swear_.”

He let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding and nodded, willing himself to accept what he already knew was the cause of her fallen state.

_Willing himself to accept that everything he had feared the entire time they’d been together but had been too cowardly to prevent had finally come to pass._

Hopper forced his furiously shaking hand to steady as he placed it gingerly behind Gloria’s head, tilting it up slightly and pressing his left ear under her nose. _Not even so much as a whiff of breath escaped from those rosy, narrow little nostrils._

“Oh God,” he moaned agonizingly as he placed her back down flat on the ground, mentally reciting all the steps to CPR over and over again like a merry-go-round in his panicked brain. Placing his hands one on top of the other in the center of her chest, he began pressing down in quick succession a full thirty times before pausing to breathe twice into her unnervingly slackened mouth.

“C’mon baby, come back to me,” he muttered to her softly in between chest compressions. _This was his fault. This was_ all _his fault. Fucking black hole that he always knew he was, he couldn’t even prevent her from getting sucked in—_

“ _Don’t you dare leave me, Gloria,”_ he whispered to her louder now, not caring if Will and Jane heard him. Let them hear. _Let the whole world hear_ how much he loved and needed her.

Let whoever needed to hear it _hear it_ so They’d bring her back to him…

Finally, after a full two minutes of CPR and praying every prayer he’d ever learned in his entire lifetime, Gloria’s eyes snapped back open to life, her breathing coming out strained and shallow but still, coming out all on its own.

“Babydoll,” Hopper resisted the urge to pull her into him and settled for simply cradling her head in his freshly trembling hands, the tears flowing so fast and free they spilled onto her own vampiric white cheeks from where he hovered above her. “Thank, God.”

***

The ambulance Harrington had called finally arrived on the scene a full ten minutes later. Hopper had to sling a litany of very creative curse words at the EMT to get them to let him ride with Gloria, his lack of relation to her be damned. He never left her side for an instant, never dropped her hand from his once the entire twenty-minute drive to Hawkins General. He simply sat silently beside where she lay on her stretcher, eyes glued to hers, stroking those dove-like fingers between his own and vowing that he would never, never, _never_ let anything like this ever happen to her again, and God damn anyone who stood in his way.

Once they’d finally arrived at the hospital the EMTs wheeled her straight into the Emergency Room and set her up for a night of intensive monitoring. Hopper flinched at the sight of all the needles they began poking and prodding her with—it brought back one too many painful memories of Sara once the cancer had reached an aggressive state.

At some point a woman with a cropped gray bob and a stern smile pulled Hopper aside to speak with him, introducing herself as 'Dr. Chakwas' and taking copious notes on a giant clipboard, asking him all manner of personal questions about GLoria he didn’t know most of the answers to. But he knew if he was going to keep his vow, he had to tell the doctor everything he _did_ know, everything that had led to the woman he loved almost being snatched from his grasp before he could do a thing about it.

So he told her all that he knew or even just suspected about Gloria’s condition. How she rushed off to the bathroom after almost every meal to ‘freshen up’. How he could hear her emptying herself almost every time and had known he should have said something a very long time ago, but didn’t out of fear. Dr. Chakwas’ mouth formed into a hard line at that, but she nodded sympathetically and waited for him to continue. He told her he thought it may have all started back on LI when she’d had dreams of being famous, or at the very least five years ago when her family had stopped speaking to her altogether.

Dr. Chakwas scribbled it all down before sliding the clipboard under her left arm and taking his hand in her own, assuring Hopper they’d do everything they could to return her back to full health in no-time, and then make sure she’d receive whatever counseling she needed to finally end her cycle of binging and purging. Hopper thanked the good doctor wholeheartedly before collapsing onto a nearby chair as she finally walked away. Vaguely he registered the voices of all of his friends suddenly crowded around him roughly fifteen minutes later, several wanting to know if the doctors had determined what had caused Gloria’s collapse, and a couple asking if there was anything they could do for _him_ , if he could use a ride home later or if he’d like someone to stay overnight with her so he could go home and get some sleep.

Until that moment Hopper had never been so grateful for the unlikely assortment of friends that life in Hawkins, Indiana had ended up corralling him with over the past three years.

***

She was fast asleep by the time the Head Nurse had finally led him to the private room they’d set her up in once they were finally sure she was stable. Hopper fully intended to remain by her side until she woke up, but the nurse, he thought her name was ‘Gina’, explained that the morphine drip would probably keep her knocked out all night, and Joyce insisted he go home for the evening as he’d “be no good to her an exhausted wreck in the morning”. So he leaned down to plant one last kiss atop Gloria’s autumn hair, promising he’d be back for her first thing tomorrow.

“Hey, babydoll!” It was roughly seven fifteen the next day when he peeked his head through her hospital room door and saw she was awake. He strode over to the side of the bed she was resting on in three seconds flat, laying the bouquet of roses he’d picked up for her from _Laney’s Floral Shoppe_ downtown on the nightstand beside her. He went to lean into her slightly for a light embrace, but was stopped dead in his tracks as she fixed him with a glare so icy he was lucky he wasn’t frozen solid where he stood.

“Can you explain to me why the doctors seem to be under the impression I’m a hazard to my own health?” She breathed out so quietly it was a wonder he even heard her. “Why they had a nurse standing guard by my door _all fucking night_ , or why they’re calling in some ‘specialist’ from Fort Wayne to talk to me about _my eating habits_? _What in the goddamn hell did you tell them, Jim?!_ ” She spat the last part out at him sharply through furious tears.

Hopper swallowed thickly. This was the EXACT sort of reaction he always feared he’d illicit out of her if he ever dared to intervene in this particular affair. But after everything that had already happened Hopper knew he’d rather chop off his own arm than sit idly by and allow her to put her life in any more danger. _Even if it meant losing her love._

“The truth, Gloria,” he finally replied with a pained sigh. “ _I_ _told them the truth_. Because I _never_ want what happened to you yesterday or God forbid something WORSE to ever happen on my watch again. Gloria I…I lo—” he stopped himself short then, the thought of saying the words and her shitting all over them in disgust was just too much to bear, even now. “I _care_ for you far too much to stand back and let you keep hurting yourself the way…the way you have been.”

Gloria’s eyebrows burrowed even deeper into themselves at that. “Your feelings for me _do not_ give you the right to spill my secrets without my consent. _How fucking dare you_ go behind my back like that. _”_

The pain in Hopper’s chest swelled so much he thought his insides might burst. “So it doesn’t matter to you at all that _we nearly lost you_ _yesterday?!_ ” He ended up shooting back at her furiously. “ _None_ of that matters to you in the least right? All you care about is that you FINALLY got caught being an utter shit to yourself. Godammit Gloria, _you could have died!_ ”

Gloria rolled her eyes heavily before shifting her entire body away from him then. “Everyone has to die sometime, Jim. Fearing the inevitable is pointless.”

Hopper’s jaw dropped open at that. “ _Do you hear yourself right now?!_ ” He bellowed out at her in utter disbelief. “ _Can you actually fucking hear what it is you’re goddamn saying?!_ ”

“Oh quit being so sanctimonious,” she retorted through narrowed eyes. “It’s not like _you_ don’t have your own share of vices, Sheriff. Or did you really think I never noticed you popping pills like M&M’s whenever your beer buzz started wearing the hell off?”

Hopper swallowed hard at that, furious at himself for never realizing just how in tune she was with him, and his _own_ dirty habits. _Goddamned idiot_.

“That is _not_ the same thing as this, Gloria,” he muttered without looking at her, not even really believing it himself.

“ _Oh isn’t it_?” She raised a questioning eyebrow at him, knowing full well she had him good and cornered. But Hopper had never been one to back down in a fight, even if it meant playing dirty…

“You never lost a kid, Gloria,” he stated flatly. “ _I have_. _Twice_!” He blinked back furious tears as those old recurring nightmares of Sara being laid in the ground in that too-tiny coffin intermingled with memories of Jane wheeling that pastel pink Barbie suitcase Joyce had gotten for her out of his cabin without so much as a backwards glance. “You don’t know what it takes to get yourself through that kind of pain _day by day by day_.”

Gloria stared at him silently for several long, agonizing seconds. For a moment something soft and sad had settled on the edges of those bright, sandalwood eyes, and Hopper wondered briefly if her sympathy for him might finally ease the flames of her ire. But then something abruptly snapped in them and she was back ripping into him mere seconds later. “ _You don’t know me Jim._ You don’t know all the things I’ve lost…Don’t you _dare_ patronize me like I’m some sort of _spoiled little child_ with no idea what it means to feel pain!”

“ _Then stop. Fucking. Acting like one.”_ he seethed at her through clenched teeth.

_“Or how ‘bout you stop acting like my goddamn Daddy, Jim.”_

His face went entirely slack then, equal parts rage and shock intermingling to make him completely numb. That she would throw their _one shared vice_ in his face _yet again_ , however roundabout, finally caused him to snap in half like a twig. Without another word he turned and barreled out of the room, all willpower to lash out at her again entirely lost, walking away from a fight for the first time since he couldn’t even remember when.

***

It took a day’s worth of heavy drinking at an almost-empty _Munden’s_ for Hopper’s fury to finally cool itself down. As much as she’d gutted him yesterday, fucking cut him to the very core…he knew in his heart he wasn’t ready to give up on her, and that he probably never _would_ be. No matter how hard he tried to shake it out of his skull, the image of her lying lifeless on the cold hard forest ground was burned indelibly on the backs of his eyes, and there was no walking away from that, not ever. Which meant there was no walking away from _her_.

So he swallowed his pride, left a five on the counter for Sid and headed straight back to Hawkins General in his blazer. After several long minutes rehearsing just what he was going to say to try and make amends during a painfully long elevator ride (“ _How’s a man supposed to think straight with all that goddamn saxophone music?!”_ ), Hopper finally reached room 519, knocking softly on the door but getting no response. He reached for the handle and creaked it openly slowly, praying her ire wouldn’t be raised once again by him letting himself in of his own accord.

“Gloria?” He called out to her softly as he made his way further into the room, blinking several times before it finally hit him her hospital bed was now entirely empty, the sheets strewn haphazardly together in a tangled mess on the floor.

His eyes darted everywhere across the room before spotting her tiny form huddled up in on itself by the double-thatched window overlooking the hospital parking lot, rivers of tears streaming down her face as she breathed heavily into the speaker of the candy-cotton pink room-phone.

“No, no, you’re absolutely right. My priorities have been all fucked up lately.” She ran an errant hand through her wild mess of auburn hair before taking a deep breath, willing herself to go on. “ _I’m so so sorry...for everything_. I keep falling into the same patterns over and over again… I keep convincing myself I can have everything all at once and I can’t. _I fucking can’t._ ” She took a moment to blow her runny nose into a nearby Kleenex before continuing, “But I swear to you, _I fucking swear_ , I’m going to do better from now on. I’m going to get myself straight so that next time, _this doesn’t happen_. _Next time, I’m going to get it to work, D.P_. My word is my bond.”

A full minute of garble from the other end of the line Hopper couldn’t make out ensued, although it struck him immediately the voice sounded distinctly _male_ in tone.

“I know,” Gloria finally piped up again several moments later. “ _I love you too_.” She finally hung up at that, heaving a deep sigh before moving from her seat by the window. That’s when she finally spotted Hopper all the way across the room.

“Honey?” Her entire countenance was like night and day compared to her accusatory tone from earlier that morning. “I-I can’t believe you came back.”

Hopper nodded immediately towards the phone. “Who’s ‘D.P.’?”

Gloria contemplated him for a brief moment before licking her lips thoughtfully. “An old friend from back on LI. Probably the only one who doesn’t completely hate me at this point,” she added with a sardonic laugh. Something clenched painfully in Hopper’s chest.

“I’m really glad you came back,” Gloria finally confessed after a few tense moments of silence. “You uh, well you already know you were right about pretty much EVERYTHING,” she finally admitted with a shamed shake of the head. Hopper could only stand there blinking in astonishment, not having anticipated _at all_ that she’d cave into him so quickly, not after how downright _furious_ she’d been with him earlier in the day. He stuttered slightly trying to think up a reply, but she spoke up again before he could manage to form any words.“I’m so so sorry I’ve been such a horse’s ass, Jim. But I promise I’m going to do better now. _I promise I’m going to get help_. Please forgive me.”

She’d barely gotten the last sentence out before he’d crossed the entire length of the room, taking her tiny form up in his big beefy arms and kissing her breathlessly, the way he’d longed to do ever since her eyes flashed back to life yesterday and he knew he hadn’t lost her after all.

“Of course, babydoll. _Of course_. I’m sorry too. I—”

But Gloria just lay a soft, dove-like finger against his pale parted lips. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for, honey. _You were just watching my back, like you always do_. I don’t know what I would do without you, Jim. I-I’d probably be dead already.”

She crashed her entire body into his once more, burying her head in the center of his torso and mouthing hot, scorching kisses all along his chest through his green flannel shirt. Hopper dug a hand in her thick auburn hair and clutched her as closely to himself as their bodies would allow. _The woman really didn’t know how to hold a grudge, after all._ And he loved her all the more for it…

***

It was another several hours before Hopper finally mustered the willpower to pull himself away from her. Having skipped both breakfast and lunch he found himself properly _starving_ by five pm that evening, and figured he’d run down to the hospital cafeteria to grab himself a bite (“Hospital food? Bleh,” Gloria crinkled her nose in disgust, but gave her blessing for him to leave anyway). He’d barely just closed the door to her hospital room behind him when he found himself face-to-face with none other than Will and Jane.

“Kids?” his eyes darted back and forth between the pair of them quizzically. “What the hell are you two doing here?”

Will held up a small bouquet of dandelions he and Jane had clearly picked from out of their front lawn. “We wanted to give these to Gloria. Mom called her room before to make sure we could visit. She’s coming up herself later after her shift at _Melvald’s_.”

Hopper continued to stare at them through narrowed eyes, something that’d been itching at the back of his brain throughout this entire ordeal finally spilling out onto the surface. “About what went down yesterday kids…what the hell were you three doing out in the woods together anyway?”

Will and Jane glanced at each other briefly before Jane finally found the will to speak up. “Gloria asked us to go with her. She wanted to show us the fireflies.”

Hopper nodded comprehendingly. That TOTALLY sounded like Gloria. Still, why take off with the kids right as the fireworks were starting? Why not a half hour before or even a little bit afterwards…?

“If you’ll excuse us.” Jane pushed past him brusquely then, her tolerance of his presence having apparently worn itself thin. Will followed right after her with an apologetic shrug. Hopper pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and sighed, wondering miserably if this how it was always going to be between them now. “ _At least she likes Gloria,_ ” he mused to himself idly. The thought of their relationship pushing Jane _even farther away_ would have been almost too much to bear, especially now when Gloria needed him by her side the most. _Especially now, when he knew he would rather gouge both eyes out with a Camel than learn to live without_ her _, too._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you okay now, Gloria?” Will asked the young woman concernedly as he and Eleven approached her freshly made-up hospital bed.

Gloria nodded with a large, warm smile. “I’m fine, kiddo,” she assured the boy with a playful nip of his chin. “All thanks to the two of you. _I owe ya both BIG TIME_.”

Will beamed brightly at that, but Eleven just shook her head. “This is all my fault,” she insisted with a small, sad sigh.

“W-what?” Gloria’s entire face crinkled in utter bewilderment at that. “What are you talking about, sweetheart? _Of course it isn’t!_ ”

Eleven shrugged, eyes downcast to her own reflection in the painfully-polished hospital room floor. “Yes it is. _If I’d just found them sooner…you wouldn’t have had to keep it going for so long…and you probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt_.”

“Oh no no no sweetheart, you did everything you _could_ ,” Gloria was quick to diffuse the teenager’s guilt, taking her pale little hand in between her own soft fingers and stroking them calmingly. “ _It’s my fault_ things went wrong yesterday…but there _is_ a way to set it all right. The thing is though… I’m going to need the both of you to do it. I know this is asking for an awful lot, but…will the two of you help me?”

The teens looked to each other again for a long hard moment, but both ended up turning back to the pale, thin woman in the bed beside them and nodding their resolve.

“Alrighty then,” Gloria chewed her lip thoughtfully before letting out a soft sigh. “Jane,” Eleven’s eyes widened like saucers at the woman’s impromptu use of _that_ name. “Jane I have to ask you to do something you are _not going to like_. But if this is going to work _, if we have any shot at all of saving them_ …it’s the only way.”

Jane raised a quizzical eyebrow at this, but balled her hands into fists all the same, her will unshakeable no matter the cost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting outside Gloria’s hospital room by himself, chomping quietly on a turkey hoagie that tasted like it’d been lying in the cafeteria freezer since 1972, Hopper waited patiently for the kids to leave before ducking back in to say goodnight to Gloria. He wondered vaguely if Jane would even bother shooting him the evil eye as she passed on the way out, when a soft little voice broke through the quiet of the long, empty hospital hallway, as well as his own dark reverie.

“ _Dad?_ ”

Hopper’s head shot up like a popped cork. Standing stock still in the doorframe of Gloria’s hospital room was his little Jane, staring at him softly with the tiniest hints of tears dotting the corners of her large chocolate eyes.

“J-Jane?” He laid the sandwich down on the seat beside him before rising up slowly from his own chair to face her properly. “Jane is everything okay?”

She shook her head back and forth while mouthing a silent “ _No,_ ” the tears spilling freely like rain droplets now down her round, rosy cheeks.

“Dad I…I don’t want to fight anymore,” she wiped her face briefly with her arm before turning back up to look at him. “If something were to happen…if you were ever to get _hurt_ I-I’d really miss you,” she confessed with a small, sad smile. “I already miss you,” she went on to admit with a nervous twitch of the corners of her mouth. “ _And…and I’m sorry_.”

Hopper nearly passed out where he stood. _He’d daydreamed this scenario countless times over the last six months._ And here it was, finally happening, just when he was sure she’d hated him more than ever.

As his Jane continued to stand there, staring at him with more than a hint of longing in those eyes, Hopper finally shook himself to action, rushing over to where she stood and pulling her into the tightest embrace they’d ever shared since he’d made her his own.

“ _Oh, sweetheart_ ,” He rested his head sweetly on top of her own, planting a tiny kiss there. “I’m so sorry for everything. I should _never_ have done what I did, but I didn’t know what else to do at the time. But I _swear_ to you I will never leave you hanging out to dry like that again. _You have my word_.”

“I know, Dad. It’s okay, I-I forgive you now. _I’m ready to come home_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *peeks in one more time* Heeeeey again guys, really hope this installment was worth the month and a half-long dry spell. I got into this a little bit already in the comments section, but this past Sept. my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and he had to go through this really radical surgical process which required A LOT of domestic care and attention on my part. He is, thank God, recovering remarkably well, which means I *should* be back to updating much more regularly. I want to personally thank everyone who’s stuck with this story and for all the lovely comments and kudos you guys have sent me so far. They’ve helped carry me through the very worst time of my life and I fully intend to meditate on them whenever my extended family inevitably drive me nuts the upcoming holiday season. On that note, a Happy Early Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates <3


	10. Falling Into Place

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The summer dawn shines an amber glow over the softly rolling bay. The ceaseless sloshing back and forth of the cerulean waves is broken only by the barely-there sound of footfalls along the beach. Footfalls belonging to a girl, roughly seventeen, with sparkly sandalwood eyes and long, windswept auburn hair.

“Where is it?” The girl halts abruptly in the middle of the beach, eyes scanning frantically for something among the sea-scattered pebbles and shells, but apparently finding nothing. “Goddamn Vinnie, where did you put it?” She crouches down on hand and knee and begins to dig, breathing becoming increasingly erratic as her search grows more and more desperate.  

“Oh thank God.” After several long minutes the girl finally manages to fish out a shiny green object from the depths of the bottomless dune. She makes quick work brushing off countless grains of pale pink sand clinging to her treasure, a palm-sized crystal with sharp, pointy shards dotting the entire length of its underbelly.

“Please,” she mutters through a haze of free-flowing tears. “Just once more.” The girl pricks her thumb hard on a lone shard smack dab at the rock’s core, working quickly to smear the five or six droplets of blood that emerge over all the rest. She has but a moment to wait before something deep inside the crystal begins to stir, and the faint lime glow emitting from within rapidly grows to a blaring neon light.

Kissing the flip side of the rock for good measure, she casts it as far out into the sea as her waifish arm can manage, and then all she can do is stand there and wait, entirely helpless now. _At the mercy of all whom she’d wronged._

“Please,” she whispers it again, almost like a prayer. “ _He’s dying._ The doctors say it’s only a matter of months now. He’ll be lost without you, and he’s done nothing wrong. _Take my life in exchange if you want_. But please, _he needs you_.”

The silence pervades for several long minutes as the girl’s tears continue to form their own ocean over her cheeks. Suddenly, a stirring on the western end of the bay catches her eye. A small circular motion that grows larger and _angrier_ with every passing second.

 _A_ _whirlpool_.

For a brief moment the girl smiles at the familiar sight that greets her, even sighs in relief as her long-sought after quarry finally emerges from the deep blue depths.

“Thank you.”

She reaches out a dove-like hand kindly then, _expectantly_. But all the expectations she’d allowed herself to have are quickly shot to hell when _it_ abruptly turns away, flitting off across countless waves of sea towards the blinding amber horizon.

“Noooooooo!” the girl screams, flinging herself into the open water without a second thought and barreling against the tide as frantically as her arms and legs will carry her. “No please! Please I’m begging you!” She shouts it over and over again until the sea itself starts spilling into her mouth, drowning her out. _Rendering her helpless to stop it._

For a long while she just bobs along with the current in stunned silence, too tired to shed anymore tears, too shellshocked to do much else but _stare_. As the hellish reality begins to close in on her, she’s sure she’s just going to stay there until the waves overtake her completely, bury her in a watery grave and erode her flesh and bones into the worthless pile of overglorified dust she already was.

 _But in her heart of hearts she knows it’s all too easy._ Knows that whatever more consequences lay waiting for her at the end of the road, there are still more debts to be paid, more wrongs to set right. And she’s yet to atone for _any_ of them.

So the child wills herself to paddle back out to the beach, crawling along the shore like a dying starfish as the same, merciless thought echoes over and over again through her waterlogged skull.

 _She’d failed._ And all the screaming and crying in the world isn’t going to fix it. _Isn’t going to make them come back._

Neither does the death of the only man she’d ever truly loved.

***

“Gloria?”

Gloria blinked several times, trying to remember where exactly during Dr. Clayton’s endless droning she’d started to drift off. Somewhere between “critically low self-esteem” and “unresolved Electra-complex”. She sat up straighter and shook herself firmly. _She’d promised D.P. she would take all this seriously._

“S-sorry Dr. Clayton. I just…I just have a lot of emotions right now.” She bowed her head slightly and blinked with large, doe-like eyes, the mask of vulnerability she wore all too well performing it’s time-honored trick to perfection.

Dr. Clayton nodded sympathetically. “Understandable, of course. Would you like to share any of those emotions, Gloria? Might give us a little more insight into _why_ you do what you do.”

Gloria suppressed a sigh, wishing now more than ever this could all be over.

“Frustration. Guilt. Anxiety. Take your pick from the rigmarole, Doc.”

Clayton narrowed her steely gray eyes. “That’s a pretty wide range of emotions, Gloria. Shall we explore those one at a time?” She scribbled a bit on the cork clipboard laying flat in her lap before resuming attentions back onto her patient. “For starters: what’s making you frustrated?”

Gloria chuckled. “Well it’s kinda hard to let go of something that’s been a large part of my life for so long. The one constant in it really,” she admitted with an added snort. “How pathetic is that, huh?”

“We _all_ need constants in our life, Gloria,” Clayton replied with what the younger woman assumed was _supposed_ to be reassurance but somehow just came off as nothing short of condescension. “ _Anchors to help us feel safe_. Would it be accurate to say that, in a way, regulating your binging and purging as tightly as you had been…it actually afforded you a small sense of security in such a chaotic world?”

Gloria nodded slowly in response. Clayton was telling her nothing she didn’t already know, or could very easily dig up in some 8th Grade Psych book if she ever felt the need to torture herself with any measure of in-depth self-analysis. Even so, the older woman’s inherent smugness made something in the back of her brain itch. “I suppose. Of course attractiveness in a beauty-obsessed world certainly makes me feel more secure, too.”

Clayton raised her brows inquiringly. “So ultimately you’d say _that’s_ what led you down this path? Dissatisfaction with your looks?”

Gloria massaged her eyeballs hard on her thumbs, not really in the mood to go down this road but _knowing_ it was inevitable.

“Your case file says you started binging and purging rather young. Is that accurate?”

“Yeah, I was around fif-no, _fourteen_.” She cradled her head in her hands then, _bewildered_ that she’d forgotten, however briefly. _Those years kept slipping away from her more and more all the time…_

“What were you going through at that particular time that convinced you resorting to such extreme eating habits was a good idea?”

The younger girl let out a long, low sigh. “It’s uh…it’s not terribly different than what I’m sure you’ve heard in here a hundred times before," she finally admitted with a small shrug. “I was a dumb kid with a giant ego who wanted her face in the newspapers. But there was a little too _much_ of that face by conventional standards, and I wanted to change what I saw in the mirror as sure and quick as I could. I actually tried going the anorexic route first…cut myself down to one meal a day for a little while even. But my Dad would always notice when I wasn’t eating enough. He was something of a helicopter type, you know? Had to work my ass off to fool him at anything,” Gloria smiled genuinely at the memory before something deep inside her began to squirm. _She was getting off track._

“So uh, one particularly _miserable_ day at East Hampton High I end up sobbing my guts out in the girls’ bathroom, when little Susie Sackman from the year behind me knocks on my stall to ask what’s wrong. Long story short: Susie ends up whipping a toothbrush from outta her coin purse and before you know it, she’s taught me _just_ the right spot in the back of your throat to get the ol’ ‘yellow sea’ flowing just right, _all_ the best excuses for running off to the little girls’ room in a hurry, the perfect candies for covering up your breath afterwards— the whole nine yards. _Bing bang boom_ : four months later and I’m a whole new gal. Everywhere I go, people look at me entirely different. For once, I’m more than just another face in the crowd.”

“But your picture never ended up in the newspapers, did it?”

Gloria smiled wanly, wanting now more than ever to reach over and knock those pretentious $300 glasses off Clayton’s smarmy fucking face.  “Nope. That part didn’t’ end up working out. Not for a lack of trying though.”

“Which begs the question…was getting caught up in this endless, all-consuming cycle really truly worth it?”

Gloria knew what the right answer was. She also knew she didn’t _care_ what the right answer was and wanted to stick it to this sanctimonious old _stronza_ as hard as she fucking could.

 _If only D.P. were here, she’d be_ sooooooo _much better behaved…_

“Well, my looks have helped me survive thus far,” Gloria finally replied with a cavalier smirk. “Helped me control what level of interest people keep in me. I’d say _that’s_ been pretty handy.”

Clayton sucked on the tip of her pen pensively. For the first time all session Gloria shifted genuinely uncomfortably in her seat. Honeycutt used to do the exact same thing…

“Is control important to you, Gloria?” The other woman inquired with a series of short _tap, tap, taps_ on the clipboard beneath her. “Control of your weight, control over others’ perception of you…there seems to be a pattern here.”

Gloria just barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes at that. _Like she needed this overpaid hack to tell her she’s a goddamn control freak._

“Probably,” she finally admitted out loud with a small shrug. _Might as well give the old bag what she wants. The alternative isn’t ending this any sooner._ “Things usually go better for me when I’m in control.”

“Except when you wind up unconscious in the woods during a party with friends, of course.”

_Fucking bitch._

“Oh you really don’t have to make me feel any worse about that, Doc,” Gloria muttered through clenched teeth, eyes never wavering from the other woman’s for a second. “Believe me, I feel guilty enough.”

“There’s that other emotion again… _guilt_.” Clayton scribbled animatedly on her notepad for several seconds before continuing. “What about being sick makes you feel guilty?”

“Well, how it’s affecting my boyfriend for one thing. I’ve let him down pretty spectacularly as of late. That doesn’t even get into everybody else my selfishness has screwed over.”

Clayton’s eyebrows furrowed together, a small frown playing around her lips. “By all accounts and purposes Gloria, this disease is hurting _you_ more than anyone. And yet the guilt you’re experiencing seems to be extended outward toward everybody else. Why do you think that is?”

Gloria threw her hands in the air. Of COURSE she’d end up in therapy with one of those psychobabble-spewing, ‘you need to put yourself first!’ fucking bullshit artists. “I get that I’ve done wrong to myself, Doc, I do. _But I asked for it._ Everyone else didn’t.”

“And that makes it okay to hurt yourself…because you ‘asked for it’?”

The younger woman really did roll her eyes this time. “ _Of course not_. But on the long, _long_ list of people I’ve fucked over in my life, comparatively speaking, _I’m pretty low on the list_.”

Dr. Clayton tutted incredulously at this. “From your case notes you were found fairly close to death around 9:15pm on the 4th of July. Your boyfriend had to perform CPR on you for a full two minutes to bring you back. And yet you think you haven’t harmed yourself more than anyone else?”

Gloria snorted and shook her head, wanting now more than ever to tell this blowhard baccalà to piss the hell off. “Like I said, Doc: _I signed up for it_. I knew all the risks and I took them willingly. The people I hurt didn’t. _None of them knew what they were getting into with me._ They were innocent.” A long pause ensued as Gloria trailed off, finding herself unable to look Clayton in the eyes now. Vaguely she made out the sharp _scribble scribble_ of the doctor’s pen somewhere against the notepad, and Gloria cursed herself silently for letting her emotions get the better of her.

_This is what happens when you lose control, child._

An alarm buzzed somewhere from Clayton’s left. “I’m afraid our session is up now, Gloria.” The older woman shut off the timer on the mahogany coffee table beside her with a small sigh. “But I’m happy with all the ground we’ve covered today. And I think you should go home and reflect on everything we’ve discussed. More importantly, I think you need to ask yourself the following questions: _Would it really be so terrible if I let go of all the guilt and shame, all the wrongs of the past? If I learn to let go of my need to control?_ ”

Gloria bowed her head slowly. “Of course, Doc.”

_Fat chance._

_***_

The rain had just started to come down in a light drizzle as Gloria finally emerged out the side door of Dr. Clayton’s home office. Waiting right outside the driveway, leaning against the hood of his blazer with a goofy-ass grin plastered on his face was none other than Hopper, a bouquet of large yellow roses in hand. Gloria found herself beaming back without even thinking about it

“Hey, Gorgeous.” Hopper straightened up and drew her in for a long, _breathtaking_ kiss as soon as she was close enough.

“Hey yourself, Tiger,” she replied with a coy smile. “Mmmn,” Gloria breathed in the bouquet he’d handed her deep, relishing the equal parts sweet and _ever-so slightly_ tart odor inherent to that particular breed. “ _You’re a real_ peach, _Jim. You know that?_ ” she cooed up at him with a lusty wink, promising all manner of sexual delights for the indulging as soon as they arrived back at the trailer.

“How’d your first session go, babydoll?” He asked her just as softly then, all the while cradling her head adoringly under his chin.

 _Lovingly_ even.

Something in her stomach clenched painfully even as she nuzzled herself deeper against his ribs, but as always she pushed it aside.  _Mission first, regrets second._ No matter just how many piled up on her in the end…

“It was great, hon,” she lied through her teeth with a reassuring smile. “I like Dr. Clayton a lot. She really gets me.”

“Well that’s a relief. I know sometimes those headshrinker types can be real stuffed-shirts.” Hopper reached over to open the passenger door for her before moving to take his own seat on the other side. Another minute later and they were speeding off back towards his place, the rain pouring down now in thick, fat droplets against the windshield.

“I’m surprised the Maitlands let you off on a Monday morning so easily. What’d ya have to promise in return, huh? Running after the little brats for the next six weekends in a row?”

Right on cue Gloria’s eyes drifted down towards her lap, expression instantly turning grave.

“Actually hon… I don’t have to worry about moving my therapy around the Maitlands’ schedule, considering I no longer work for them.”

Hopper’s head swiveled instantly to face her. “Wait, what?”

Gloria sighed heavily. “ _They fired me_ _four days ago_. Said it was no good having ‘someone like me’ around little Stef and Paulie. Can’t say I really blame them, to be honest,” she finished with a small, sad shrug.

Hopper’s eyebrows knitted together bewilderedly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

She paused to scratch her chin as if in deep thought. “I don’t know. Guess I didn’t want you worrying about it with everything else going on for you right now,” she finished with a small nod towards the picture of Jane he kept taped up on his dashboard.

Hopper’s expression softened before he finally spoke up again, “Well…there’s plenty of kids in Hawkins. Somebody’s BOUND to need a nanny.”

She shifted her body away from him entirely then, leaning her forehead on the fogged-up window and staring vacantly at the passing woods surrounding them. “I’m not so sure I’m going to be that lucky, Jim. I started sending feelers around town, even offered to reduce my usual rate but…it seems my reputation has begun to proceed me. Between the incident at Joyce’s place and—” She stopped herself short then, as if interrupting an unwanted train of thought. Hopper ended up supplying the rest though, just as she’d counted on.

“ _And you being with me_ ,” he finished solemnly.

Gloria turned back to look him dead in the eye. “I still don’t regret it, Jim. _Not for a second._ And I never will.”

Hopper sighed. “So what will you do if you can’t find a new gig?”

Gloria turned down the corners of her mouth into a perfect, pouty frown. “Well I guess I’ll have no choice but to look in one of the surrounding towns. I heard from Tammy that a family in Greendale’s looking for a live-in girl. Maybe I’ll give it a go with them.”

Hopper slammed so hard on the breaks his blazer skidded several feet along the rain-soaked highway.

“ _YOU’RE MOVING AWAY?!”_ her beau demanded of her furiously from the driver’s seat.

Gloria took a second to compose herself, not expecting such an extreme reaction. _This one_ really _was smitten…_

“Jim, calm down! I haven’t even applied with them yet. But even if I do have to move…I’d come into Hawkins as often as I could manage to be with you, _you must know that_. I’d still find time for us, no matter what.” She threaded her fingers with his own then, turning on the doe eyes and nodding in the most elaborate display of faux-sincerity she’d ever pulled off to date.

But Hopper just rolled his eyes in frustration. “How often could you realistically get away as a live-in though? Weekends? The occasional Wednesday night?” He cradled his forehead in his hands. “You know that’s not enough, Gloria. Not _nearly_ enough. I can’t stand not seeing you every day as it is, babydoll,” he confessed with a sheepish smile.

Gloria stared at him for a long moment then, genuinely sad now. _This one was_ really  _going to haunt her at the end of it all…_

She shook herself slightly before responding. “It’s not like I _want_ to leave, hon. But I might not have a choice. Unless you can yank a gig outta your ass for me, I’m looking pretty screwed.”

Hopper furrowed his eyebrows in thought then, and Gloria was left to wait with baited breath for the light bulb to go off.

_Come on honey, put it all together for me now._

“Well, you know,” he begun again slowly, “Jane’s moving back in with me for good in a few days. And…and I could definitely use someone to look after her over summer vacation. Make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.”

Gloria widened her eyes as though incredulous. “You mean…Jim are you suggesting I come work for you and Jane?!” Her face lit itself up like a Christmas tree. “Oh my God that would be awesome!” She wasted no time flinging her arms around his neck, showering his cheeks with butterfly kisses ‘til they turned a rich shade of scarlet. But then she yanked herself away from him just as sharply, her new con not _quite_ yet complete. “But wait, it won’t be weird for you and Jane? I mean, your girlfriend as your nanny?” She turned worried eyes at him then. “I’d hate to cause any more friction between you two. From what you’ve told me there’s enough to go around.”

But Hopper just shrugged her off. ”Way I see it babydoll, we’re already messed up as hell. Adding you into the mix can’t make things that much worse. Besides, Jane could use an older lady around now that she won’t have Joyce looking after her. Someone to talk about clothes and boys and make-up with, all that girly crap.”

Gloria snorted hard. “I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She reached over and planted a scorching, openmouthed kiss on his hungry mouth, leaving him once again grinning from ear to ear when she finally pulled away.

“It’s settled then. How soon can you move in? The cabin’s actually pretty deep in the woods, it’ll kinda be like camping every night, which I’m sure you’ll _love_ …”

Gloria nodded absentmindedly as the man beside her continued to prattle on in barely-concealed excitement. Finally, everything was falling into place.

Dr. Clayton had actually been right in one instance: she really _did_ relish exercising control over all things.

_And damn was she good at it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And deeper down the rabbit hole we go, my friends…
> 
> In all seriousness though: I really hope you guys got a lot from this installment. I’ve been wanting to do a Gloria POV chapter for a while now to help y’all get into her head better, drop a few more clues as to what her motivations are and why (the big reveals are still a bit of a ways off yet, though). 
> 
> Oh, and in case anybody's wondering, "stronza" is an Italian correlate of "bitch", while "baccalà" is an insult meaning "smelly dead codfish". Just FYI...;=)


	11. The Diary of Jane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my darling Father, who passed away from metastasized bladder cancer on January 22, 2018. Dad, the astral plane is all the richer in its beauty and wonder now that you've arrived to play.

July 14, 1985

Hello,

My name is Jane Ives. Well, actually I guess it's Jane Hopper again now. I don't really like being Jane Hopper though. Not that I have any choice.

Anyway, Jonathan gave you to me today as a going away present. He said he wanted me to have something to remember my time with his family by. I think he knows I don't really want to leave them. To go back with _him_. I was happy with the Byers—it felt like being part of a big happy family for once. But he said writing in you would be a good way to let my feelings out. Better than breaking things with my mind anyway I guess.

Hopper was so excited to come bring me home. He took me to this fancy restaurant right after we left the Byers' house and when we got back to the cabin there was a brand new furniture set waiting for me in my room. The bedsheets are actually kinda nice; a little too pink but still, really pretty I guess. I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, that made him _very_ happy. I don't think he knows I don't really want to be back here. I guess I'm getting pretty good at pretending. Not as good as Gloria, but still.

I know I should probably feel bad about lying to him. _But he lied to me that whole time_. He pretended to be my Daddy, he pretended he really cared about keeping me safe and all the while he'd betrayed me to Papa just a few months before. He doesn't really love me. Just like he doesn't really love Gloria. _He only really loves himself_. I don't care if we lie to him anymore. He's not my friend, and he's not my Dad. I don't have a Dad. I don't think.

 

July 17, 1985

Gloria moved in with us yesterday afternoon. Hopper says she's here to be my nanny, to look after me during the day while he's busy at work. He STILL doesn't trust me to take care of myself, even after everything that happened last year. Mike called him a word the other day that Mama Joyce says I'm not supposed to use. But I like the way it sounds: _bastard_. He says it's a really nasty word for someone without a father. I guess truthfully I'm a bastard too then. But Mike said not to call myself that, so I won't.

Gloria's actually pretty cool to be honest though. She lets me watch whatever I want on the TV and makes me lots of yummy snacks throughout the day. She also lets me use my powers however I want around the house, just as long as Hopper's not there. He has no idea Gloria knows all about me. _I'm_ still not quite sure how she found out about me either, but she says that's not important. I have a bad feeling it is though.

 

July 22, 1985

Nancy says I haven't been doing this right. I'm supposed to start off with "Dear Diary" I guess, but that just sounds silly to me. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm sorry I've been MIA but a lot has happened this week. Gloria convinced Hopper to let Will come over for an hour or so every day in the afternoon. Something about "helping me transition", whatever that means. But he bought it, so that's something. Gloria says if he ever asks about what we get up to together to just tell him we play Hide and Seek out in the backyard. It's not a _total_ lie after all, Diary. Although we don't exactly stay in the fenced part like Hopper made me promise I would, and we don't come in as soon as it gets dark. Gloria's actually been taking us out all over the wood, she says we might even have to cover the entire forest before the summer's through. I really hope it doesn't take that long Diary. I hate lying to everybody so much as it is.

Will and I haven't picked up on anything new but Gloria says she's sure They're close. She says the fireflies tell us everything. She gave me my own jar yesterday and asked me to try and pick up on what the little guys are feeling, if they're afraid. But I don't think they're afraid. More like curious. Makes sense I suppose. Me and Will are pretty curious too.

Hopper doesn't seem to suspect anything, at least I don't think he does. He's too happy with me and Gloria around. Guess I can't blame him, Gloria does everything around here now. Cooking, cleaning, the laundry, you name it. It's actually really nice. I have more time to hang out with the guys in the day and read all the new books Hopper bought for me when we're not playing Hide and Seek. And Gloria's always really sweet to me. I guess she has to be though.

Gloria says we just have to act like a big happy family for a little while and then I can go back to the Byers if I want to when this is all over. But I don't think Mama Joyce will take me back. I don't think she'd let me hurt Hopper that much. Not after Gloria leaves.

I wonder if Gloria cares about how much pain he'll be in when this is all over. I wonder if she ever thinks about putting an end to it before it gets any worse.

But I guess we're doing the right thing after all. At least…it _feels_ like the right thing. I mean, I spent so long in the Lab, wishing and hoping someone would come and save me. I know what it's like to feel trapped. How could I let someone else feel that way and not do anything about it?

Maybe Hopper will understand if I explain after she leaves. I guess I shouldn't really care if he does though. He didn't care about me when he made that deal with Papa. He only cared about _himself_.

Anyway, Will says we're doing the right thing and I trust Will. _Almost_ as much as I trust Mike.

God I wish I could tell him. He'll never forgive me for not saying anything if this comes out. I hope Will keeps his promise. He swore he wouldn't tell a soul.

So far the other guys don't seem to suspect anything either though. Will and I made a pact not to tell them how much time we're spending together in the afternoon. I think Mike's a little hurt we've been leaving his D and D games so early though. God I hate lying to him.

I just want all this to be over.

 

July 23, 1985

Dear Diary,

Gloria and Hopper got into a big fight today. It was honestly really silly though Diary. Hopper got mad because Gloria forgot to buy another case of Shlits when she went shopping yesterday. Gloria made a joke that he could afford to go a few days without getting himself smashed, I guess that's another word for drunk, and that's when Hopper really blew up at her. They started yelling and screaming at each other for a whole half hour, it was so bad Diary, I couldn't even hear the TV with the volume turned all the way up.  I didn't really understand a lot of it, but it sounds like Gloria's mad because she thinks Hopper broke a promise to her, but Hopper thinks she's over blowing things to try and break _her_ promise to him. I didn't think adults fought about stuff like this Diary. I hope Mike and I never do when we grow up.

Anyway, Gloria ended up locking herself in the bathroom while Hopper sat outside the door saying 'sorry' over and over again. When she finally came back out he told her he only got upset because he hadn't taken a pill in two whole weeks and thought she'd be proud of him. She said she was, she just gets worried he was going to drink himself to death instead.

They hugged each other for a really long time then. Hopper said he really didn't mean to lose it at her like that and then something about "with drawl being a royal bitch", whatever that means. Gloria started to cry and said she doesn't feel normal anymore. Said everything inside feels twisted and wrong. I'm really starting to get worried now Diary. If she's still sick, what's going to happen the next time she manages to summon Them again? _What if it really does kill her this time?_ Hopper would never forgive me for helping her do it.

Hopper seems to think she's strong enough to get better though, and maybe he's right. I hope so any how. He says he won't give up on her until she's beaten what ever it is that's wrong with her. He must really love her Diary. I wonder if she loves him back, even a little bit, or if it's really all just pretend. I wonder if she'd tell me if I asked.

I'm not sure I really want to know.

 

July 26, 1985

Dear Diary,

I think something's wrong with Max. She hasn't been hanging out with the Party all that much lately, and any time she does show up she seems really nervous about something. Lucas says she's been blowing off their dates the last couple of weeks too.  Says she's been acting kinda weird for awhile now though, like she can't just relax, even when they're alone together. But she won't tell him or any of us what's wrong, no matter how many times we ask. I wonder if that mouth breather brother of hers is hurting her again. I wish she'd let me snap his neck in half the last time I visited.   

Maybe this sounds bad, but a part of me is actually kinda relieved the other guys are so distracted with the Max thing now. They don't bug me and Will as much about not staying longer during Party meetings. Gloria suggested maybe Mike and I should have a date night twice a week, go to the movies together or whatever, something to keep him happy. Hopper seemed kinda grumpy about it when I brought it up to him at breakfast though. But I think Gloria might be able to talk him into it.  He doesn't tell her no as often as he tells me. I think he must like her better.

I really shouldn't blame him though. _I_ certainly like her better than I like him at this point. At least when Gloria tells lies it's cause she's trying to help people. I think that's the only time it's okay to lie, when you're trying to help out your friends.

I guess that means Gloria and I are friends now. Funny how things change.

 

July 27, 1985

Dear Diary,

I wonder if Hopper and Gloria know how loud they are when they're in the shower together. They probably think all the water drowns them out, but Hopper yells REALLY loud sometimes in there, I can hear it even with my door closed. Maybe I should say something tonight at dinner. I don't even think they realize I know they go in there together. They might not actually care though, I'm not sure. 

Bet Hopper'd care if Mike and I ever went into the shower together. Bet he'd be majorly PISSED (hope I spelled that right, I have to ask Dustin).

Maybe I shouldn't make a big fuss after all. Gloria's going to be gone as soon as we find her friends. Maybe I should just let Hopper do whatever he wants until then. I don't even want to think about what he'll be like when she takes off. It's going to be _awful_ Diary.

Maybe I should tell him everything after she leaves. I mean, I _promised_ I wouldn't, but maybe he'd make Mama Joyce take me back then. Maybe he wouldn't be able to stand being around me anymore.

Or maybe he'll just call up the Lab and hand me over to Owens. Do what he's really wanted to do since the beginning. I'm not his Sara and he knows it. Not sure why he keeps on pretending we're the same. His pretend is even worse than Gloria's sometimes.

At least Gloria can still get Them back though. At least her pretend actually makes _sense_. There's no getting Sara back, no matter how hard he acts like he loves me like her. He never has, he never will.

Sometimes Diary, I really wish I could just run away with Mike. I don't even care where we go. I just want to get away from all this, finally have a life that is mine.

But he'd never leave the Party, he's too loyal a friend. And I'm never going to leave him either Diary, I swear it. Nothing's going to break us apart ever again. Never ever ever.

Still, it's really nice to think about Mike taking me somewhere far, far away when we're older. That, and going into the shower with him. I think he'd like that A LOT.  

 

July 29, 1985

Dear Diary,

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm doing the right thing after all. What if I can't close the Gate back up again when the time comes? Gloria says I'd only have to keep it open for a few minutes tops but, what if I mess everything up? What if something else follows Gloria's friends out, something _bad_? What if I let the Shadow Monster back in? I'm starting to get really scared the more I think about it.

I brought this up to Will a few days ago. He says he gets real worried too, but he can't just sit back and do nothing, it wouldn't feel right. I guess I understand. If Hopper and Mama Joyce hadn't done what they did, he might still be stuck in the Upside Down too. How could he leave anyone else behind in there when he knows just how horrible it is? He says that's not what a hero does, and I guess he would know. I'm not sure Hopper will think we're heroes after this, but then again, he thinks selling out one person to save another is heroic, so what does he really know?

I tried talking to Gloria about this yesterday too. But she already knew a lot about what happened last year. She even brought up the Shadow Monster before I did. Gloria didn't call it that though, she used a different word, I'm not even sure I'm spelling it right: Niar Lathatip. Anyway, she said she wouldn't be asking this of us if it meant letting Niar Lathatip back into Hawkins. But she says I have to spend more time practicing my powers to be safe. She keeps having me imagine the Gate in my mind, she says imagining something in your head can make it come true after a while. I don't really understand but I guess I trust her. Guess I don't really have a choice at this point.

I suppose if it were me I'd want someone to open the Gate, even if it was a mistake. Who'd want to be trapped in the Upside Down for as long as They've been? Will was in there for only a week and he's still not really the same. I wouldn't know what "same" for Them would look like, but I guess Gloria must. I wonder if they'll ever forgive her for what she did.

I don't think I'd be able to forgive her.

 

August 1, 1985

Dear Diary,

Hopper is thinking of proposing to Gloria. He doesn't know that I know. But I heard him talking about it with Mama Joyce yesterday afternoon while Gloria was out shopping. He says he never felt this way about a woman before. He can't believe how well she takes care of me. I think I'm going to be sick.

I don't know whether I should warn Gloria. I'm not sure she counted on this. I'm not even sure she'll care. I don't know why I should care either. No matter what she's going to leave when this is all over. He's going to end up with a broken heart. But he deserves it. So why do I care Diary? _Why_?

I shouldn't. But I do.

Maybe cause I know when she leaves, I'M going to be the one he'll take all his anger and sadness on. He'll tighten his hold on me harder than ever, just like last year. He probably won't even let me be alone with Mike at all any more.  I'm starting to regret giving Gloria my word. This is all her fault anyway Diary.

God, I think I'm starting to hate her again. I wouldn't even be back here if she hadn't been so selfish. _She_ did this to Them after all. Why do I have to help her clean up her own mess? It's not fair.

But I guess life isn't very fair, is it Diary?

 

August 5, 1985

Dear Diary,

I think Gloria must have felt bad about how worried I've been over everything lately, because she actually talked Hopper into taking us to a carnival passing through town over the weekend. As soon as we got there Gloria bought me a ball of this yummy blue stuff she said was called cotton candy, and Hopper taught me how to play Whack A Mole. Don't worry Diary, it's not a real mole, just plastic, like my Barbie. I actually did really well, my final score was fifty points! Hopper got all the way to eighty-five though, but I guess he's been playing a lot longer than I have.

Anyway when it got darker we all went on this giant spinning ride called a feris wheel—we went up so high Diary, I swear I could see Dustin's house from my seat! Then this kid in the car under ours threw up on all the people waiting on line down below, it was AWESOME. Gloria's stomach started feeling funny after that though so she couldn't ride again with Hopper and me when we went back for a second turn. It was actually kinda nice. He kept his arm around me the entire ride and pet my hair like he used to do in the old days. I actually forgot he betrayed me for a few minutes Diary. I never thought I could forget how much that hurt.

When we got back down Hopper bought a few turns throwing a baseball at some soup cans in one of the carnival booths and won me a stuffed elephant. I've decided to call him 'Terry' after Mama. There's a boy named Terry in my class so I guess it's a name that goes with boys and girls. I don't think Eleven's supposed to go with anything. Must be why everyone just calls me Jane now. Makes better sense to them, I guess.

Sometimes when I'm in bed at night I cuddle Terry and pretend he's Mike. I asked Gloria if she thinks that's weird but she says it's perfectly normal. Says she used to do that all the time as a kid with her little pink unicorn Belle, whenever she had to stay overnight at the hospital and missed her family. I wonder who she cuddled with after her friends got lost in the Upside Down.

It's been a while since I've had a fun day like that Diary. I wonder if I'll have that kind of fun again soon. I hope so, it's nice to forget being angry, even for just a little while. 

 

August 8, 1985

Dear Diary,

I think I'm starting to get lost in all this pretend. Lately I keep forgetting how angry I am at Hopper and Gloria. Maybe it's cause we've been spending so much time together playing family, sometimes it feels so real. Like when I was with the Byers, except now I'm the only kid, so I get all the attention. Is it bad that I like the way that feels?

Sometimes we have so much fun playing games or eating out or going to the mall that I forget it's all fake. Mike would say it's bullshit. That's what my life has become now. _Total bullshit_. This is all Gloria's fault. Her whole life is bullshit and now she's made _my_ whole life that too. I wish I didn't have to keep reminding myself to hate her. What is happening to me Diary?

Maybe I should tell Gloria that Hopper wants to marry her. Maybe she'll put a stop to all this playing house crap. I wish I could. I wish I didn't like it so much. I wish she didn't have to be so nice to me all the time. Lately she keeps buying me all these new clothes and jewlery like that's supposed to make up for all the lies she's making me tell. Problem is I actually really like them Diary, so I don't make her take them back. I should, I should just throw them all in her face and say that nothing will make up for what she's done. I should go to Hopper and tell him the whole truth so he'll throw us both out and I can finally go back home to the Byers.  

I wish I could just hate the both of them in peace. But I _don't_.

What is happening to me Diary?

 

August 10, 1985

You mustn't tell anybody this Diary, but Will and I actually spotted two of Them out in the woods tonight. It didn't last very long, the crystal went out before I could even make a move to open the Gate. But we definitely saw Them, they were sitting on a tree stump together talking, at least I think that's what they were doing, I couldn't actually see their mouths. They looked really scared when they saw us back though Diary, I think that's why they wouldn't come any closer when we called out to them. I don't know how to make them trust Will and me. Maybe they can't trust people like us now after what Gloria did. I guess I can understand how they feel. If somebody made something bad happen to a member of _my_ Party, I'd never trust anyone like them ever again, even if it was just an accident.

I'm not like Gloria though Diary. How do I make them understand that? I'm still not that great talking to people like _me_ , forget people like Them.

God I really wish Eight were here. She could put lovely thoughts in their heads and they'd know we mean them no harm. That we just want to help. I'm not sure she'd want to help people like Them though Diary. I'm not sure she cares about anything except hurting the Bad Men. I wonder if that really makes her happy in the end. I don't think it does. But what do I know Diary?

I just want all this to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to sincerely thank anyone and everyone who's stuck with this story through thick and thin. I really wish I could have worked on it at a better time in my life; I might have even had it finished by now. 
> 
> I really hope I wrote Jane's diary entries believably enough for someone who's only been to school for a little while (longer if you count Hopper's tutelage of her through 1984). I like to imagine she did A LOT of reading the past year, expanding that terribly limited vocabulary of hers. Poor girl. 
> 
> All spelling errors were fully intentional, at least the ones I know about anyhow. Shout-out to anyone who gets the "Niar Lathatip" reference (oh, El). 
> 
> Here's hoping life starts to look up and my ability to update along with it.


	12. Prior Engagements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been way too long. Hopefully all the juicy meat coming up in this super-lengthy chapter will be enough to make it up to y'all. Also, the porn. I think we've all gone long enough without a little Hopper x Gloria roll in the hay, mmhmm.

Her pussy lays bare and glistening beneath him. _Waiting_. Slowly, teasingly, Hopper's tongue darts out to swipe against the outer folds, relishing every last drop of sweat and cum he manages to lap up off of Gloria's petal-soft skin.

"Ohhhhh." Her hips begin bucking up against his forehead now, and it's all Hopper can do not to dig his nails into her flesh to keep his lips locked firmly on her pulsating cunt. "I love your mouth on my body, Daddy. Nobody ever gives me kisses like yours."

"Yeah?" he grunts in-between nipping at her labia playfully with his two front teeth. "Then be a good little girl and keep moaning for me, babydoll. Daddy wants to hear just how good he can make you feel."

Gloria's toes curl against Hopper's shoulders then, her back arching ever-so-slightly off of the bed at his words. The burrowing of her digits into his flesh might have actually felt uncomfortable given their current position, had the very act itself not caused his own wad to stiffen so hard they could have tented the bedsheets over it.

"Ohhhhh fuck Daddy…I need to feel you inside me RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" She begins yanking sharply at the hairs lining the base of his neck, coaxing him up so she can position herself around his middle, digging her heels hard against his ass in urgent desperation to feel him burrowed in her cunt.

As he moves to oblige her Gloria reaches to tilt Hopper's chin up in her hand, eyes searching his, but for what, Hopper couldn't say. They remain locked like that for a long beat though, before Hopper can no longer restrain the animal instinct demanding he fuck her brains out. An onslaught of sharp thrusts against her cervix ensues in rapid succession, taking even _her_ by surprise as the shocked look she fixes him now can attest.

"Holy fuck, Jim!" She throws her head back into the feather-down pillow beneath her then, eyes screwed shut tightly as her entire face contorts in unbridled ecstasy. But Hopper remains determined to maintain her attentions even now.

"You only call me 'Daddy' in the bedroom, bitch," he admonishes her sharply with a quick swat to the ass, causing Gloria to gasp slightly in shock as she lifts her head back up to look at him. She quirks a bemused eyebrow in his direction as he continues to rut inside her mercilessly, a small smile he himself can't quite define dancing furtively around her lips.

"Of course, Daddy." Gloria reaches back up to kiss him then, eliciting a series of low, guttural moans deep inside his throat as she times the strokes of her tongue with skillful pivots up against his cock.

"So. Close," he bites out sharply against her wanton mouth as they continue rubbing their lower halves together with increasing friction. Gloria hums contentedly as she moves her tongue to trace the full length of his upper lip.

"You wanna cum on your little girl's tits, Daddy?" She offers with a breathy moan against the outer shell of his ear.

The suggestion's enough to make Hopper's eyes roll all the way back inside his skull, but the thought of extricating himself from her pussy now is almost too much to bear, she was just so _tight and wet and hot._

Sensing his hesitation, Gloria pulls back slightly from her perch in Hopper's lap to look him dead in the eyes again. "Please, Daddy," she practically begs him with a pout so small and cute he can't resist briefly sucking both lips into his own mouth before she can continue, " _I've been such a naughty girl, Daddy_. All the trouble I've given you lately. Teach me a lesson and beat your giant dick on top of my tits. _Pretty please?_ "

"Oh, shit!" Hopper grunts with abandon now at the pure filth of it all. Somehow he manages to pry himself away from her then, hating how cold and unfulfilled he feels as soon as he's untangled himself from her body. He quickly remedies it by shoving Gloria back down onto the mattress, relishing the sound of those wind-chimey giggles as he squeezes her tits intermittently in his left hand, bludgeoning his furious member up against them with the right.

"Oh my fuck… _God_." The feel of those bulbous mounds against him is enough to send his animal brain into overdrive. Even as he consciously moves two digits down to her doubled-in-size clit, determined to finish her off, his movements are sloppy, uncoordinated, _unlike him_. He's simply too transfixed by the sight of those creamy, tear-shaped tits colliding up and down on his exponentially grateful dick.

It's enough to get her screaming again within minutes though, and Gloria in turn rewards him by grabbing both breasts roughly in her hands, using them as buoys to keep his throbbing cock bouncing between them.

Hopper finds he can only take another minute of this unmitigated ecstasy before he cums squirting thick, pulpy jets up and down Gloria's chest and neck, and even a little bit here and there along her chin. Gloria on her part just laughs like a maniac the entire time he empties himself out all over her, relishing every last second of him marking her as his.

Hopper's body meanwhile is so spent at this point it's all he can do not to flop lifeless in the space beside her, turning his head as he watches her (cruelly) begin scooping up his seed off her chest with those spider-like fingers, sucking them into her mouth slowly with a delighted squeal.

"Do not…get me…going again," Hopper manages to pant out at her in between heavy gulps of much-needed air. "Can't…take it."

Gloria just shrugs and swings her legs up over the side of the bed, grabbing a bunch of Kleenex from the adjacent nightstand to begin cleaning herself up.

"You alright there, tiger?" She notices him staring at her transfixed from where he lay on the mattress. Hopper lets out a small sigh of contentment before pulling himself up into a sitting position, taking the tissues gently from her hand to finish wiping her body clean himself.

"I love you."

He hadn't planned on saying it tonight. And certainly when Hopper had thought about saying it at all, he hadn't pictured it being in the middle of wiping down her cum-slicked body after a night of particularly voracious lovemaking. But he was finding it harder and harder to control himself around her lately. To hold back from giving her everything he wanted to give her. _From taking whatever he wanted in turn._

For a long moment there's nothing but silence between them as uncertain cobalt eyes seek out heavy-lidded hazel ones, trying to determine whether the small pinpricks of tears they find forming at the corners there mean good or bad things for him. Then, without a word, Gloria finally moves to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him up against her tight, burying her head softly into his burly right shoulder. _Where he can't see the tears begin to fall_.

"I know," a long, slow stroke of his dirty-blonde hair reaffirms the point. " _I know you do, Jim_. I love you too. I promise." Her voice cracks on the last word, so she tries and fails to cover it up by pressing rose-petal lips roughly against his temple. Hopper in turn just closes his eyes and burrows himself up against her chest once more in response, sighing in a mixture of relief and pure bliss.

_It's okay that he loves her._

_It's okay that he's forty-two and she's twenty-three._

_It's okay that they'd only known each other all of three months, that he'd allowed himself to fall for her way too hard and fast. That they'd weathered fighting and fooling around and near-death experiences together. It was_ _ALL_ _okay._

 _Because she loves him_ back.

 _Inexplicably, unfathomably, beyond all rhyme and reason,_ she actually loves him back...

 _...But how to make the feeling last forever, ay Jim? Now_ that's _the real trick, ain't it…?_

***

As the morning breeze began tickling his face through the lace curtains swaying lazily across his window, Hopper couldn't suppress the shit-eating grin he found himself rapidly spreading into his pillow. Memories of last night's lovemaking session with Gloria had come waltzing back into his brain the instant he'd woken up, putting him in an uncharacteristically good morning mood.

Reaching over beside him, Hopper moved to thread a hand through the hair of the woman who loved him, hoping to coax her into a little eight AM delight before heading off to work, but was met with nothing but a long swath of cotton underneath his wanting fingertips.

"Gloria?" he mumbled sleepily into the mattress, rolling over and finding no trace of her at all in their bed. He wondered idly if she'd crept off to the kitchen to start breakfast early for him and Jane, when a low, strangled sob from somewhere to his left suddenly reached his ears. He turned and saw the dim yellow light from his bathroom ceiling lamp flooding out from underneath the doorframe. _Shit_.

"Gloria?" He knocked softly on the bathroom door after yanking on a pair of grey sweatpants, his head pressing hard against the unforgiving ochre wood. _She'd been doing so much better the last few days…_

"Everything alright in there, babydoll?"

A brief pause before her voice floated back to him weakly from the other side. "I-I'm okay, honey. I just need a minute. You go get ready for work I…I'll be out in a bit to start breakfast."

Hopper sighed hard into the doorframe before making his decision, twisting the shiny gold knob between his fingers and pushing forward into the little half-bath. He was met with the sight of a very weak-looking Gloria sitting spread-eagle on the bathroom floor, reddish-brown curls plastered to her face from sweat, a small can of ginger ale clutched tightly in her right hand.

Hopper exhaled sharply before moving to take a seat next to her on the unforgiving tile floor. He immediately registered that her own breathing was coming out slowly, the effort seeming labored, and a thick sheen of perspiration had pooled onto her forehead and at the base of her throat.

"Did you, um…" Hopper nodded his head briefly toward the toilet before trailing off, not wanting to embarrass her.

She managed to shake her head briefly in between shallow puffs of breath. "Nah I got it back down. Took a little while, but…the ginger ale helps a lot." At that she took another long swig from out of her can, licking her lips meticulously where a few droplets had spilled out. Hopper blinked slowly, shifting uncomfortably where he sat. Now was not an appropriate time to start getting aroused…

"Anything I can do to make you feel better?" He finally asked after a minute-long silence, _hating_ just how helpless he felt right then.

Gloria chuckled darkly at that. "Yeah, go back in time and slap some sense into fourteen-year-old me so none of this bullshit ever happens."

He couldn't help but smile a little sadly at that, reaching out to stroke her bare thigh reassuringly, hating how much it trembled beneath his fingertips.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, baby, you were just a kid. Look at how old I was when I got hooked on meds. You don't think _I'm_ an idiot, now do you?"

Gloria immediately shook her head. "You had a good reason for all that. I was and am a vain piece of shit."

Hopper frowned. "C'mon now babydoll, don't talk about yourself that way. What would Dr. Clayton say?"

Gloria rolled her eyes at the mention of the good doctor's name. " _But it's true, Jim_. You and I both know it is."

"I know you're unreasonably hard on yourself. Far harder than you could ever deserve."

Gloria sighed, leaning her head against the bathroom counter and shutting her eyes tightly. "Yeah well, you only think that's cause you're the most wonderful fucking man on the face of the earth, ain't ya Jimbo?"

Hopper snorted incredulously at that. " _Hardly_. My own daughter's just NOW starting to stand living under the same roof as me again. Doesn't speak all too well for my track record, I'd wager."

Gloria turned to look at him then, something sweet and soft and _sad_ alight in her eyes. "That doesn't really mean anything in the end though, Jim," she insisted in all sincerity. " _What really matters is that you're brave and kind and true._ And you care, you care so much even when you already have _too much_ on your plate to care about. You think I'd still be here if it weren't for you? I'd probably already be dead."

Hopper had to break eye contact with her then, something in his lower jaw trembling uncontrollably. But she reached her hand over and gently tilted his head back to face hers, eyes locked firmly on his own.

"You are..." she paused to take a deep breath here, "the best man I've ever known. Pretty sure I'm never going to meet another like you again. Fuck, I," she shook her head, twisting her lower lip between her two front upper teeth. "I really hope I remember what it feels like to be loved by someone so good."

Hopper's brow furrowed at that. "What are you talking about?"

Her mouth parted slightly then, picking up on his sudden change of mood. "Just that," she began again with a tiny shrug, "however long this lasts…however long you, you may love me," she blushed furiously at the statement but forced herself to carry on, "I hope I can take it with me for the rest of my life. What it feels like to be cared for by someone like you."

 Gloria looked back up to smile at him brightly, but Hopper's face had fallen entirely flat.

" _However long this lasts_?" he repeated back to her blankly. "You're talking like our relationship comes with an expiration date."

She blinked several times in response, pulling her hand away from him then, _retreating into herself_ as she realized the mistake she'd made. After a few more seconds of heavy silence, she continued, "I'm not, I'm not saying that, I…I just mean… _feelings change over time Jim_ , for one reason or another."

"Yeah," Hopper replied to her slowly, _roughly_. "But not always. Some feelings never change. Some things never go away." He swallowed thickly. "You don't know it can't, especially not this early. And why are you even worrying about things like that?" Something in the back of his brain registered how inappropriate it was that his voice was growing harsher and harsher with her by the moment, given their current circumstance. But Hopper couldn't seem to stop himself now. "Aren't you happy here with Jane and me? I mean you tell me you are all the time—"

"Jim _, please_ ," she began massaging her temples between her thumb and forefinger exasperatedly.  "You're blowing what I'm saying way out of proportion."

He stared at her incredulously then. "I'm just trying to understand where your head's at, baby. Why you're already planning for our fucking break-up when we just moved into together!" He finished with an exasperated toss of his hands in the air.

Gloria shrugged with a small smile, not looking at him at all then. "I don't know…you may get sick of carrying my bulimia-ridden ass around at some point, hon. God knows I can be a burden."

Hopper's jaw clenched. "Do you honestly think I would have brought you into my house if I thought you were a burden?"

She sighed, something inside of her that Hopper couldn't quite place seeming strangely defeated then. "Listen, honey, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I'm just…I'm not used to things lasting." She squeezed his knuckles between her fingers tenderly. Something about the final word in that sentence made his anger begin to evaporate rapidly. "I've…I've screwed up so many things in my life, lost so many things by being really fucking stupid. I guess it's just hard for me to imagine something as good as what we have actually making it for the long haul. But one thing I _am_ pretty sure of," she reached over to take his face in between her small, pale hands. "I'm always going to love you, Jim. No matter what happens. No matter where we go or what we do. That's something you can believe," she stared at him unblinkingly as she said it, causing something deep inside his chest to clench almost painfully. 

He grunted sharply before moving to cradle her neck softly between his fingers. "Did you know…" he began again slowly, "it only took me three dates to know that I'd fallen in love with you. I'd never fallen for anyone that soon before. Not _ever_. Sometimes I still can't believe how quickly you swept me off my feet." They both chuckled at that, him staring intently into her eyes now. "I really would like for this to last, Gloria. I mean that."

She parted her lips slightly to respond, a shallow puff of breath escaping before any actual words could find their way out, but whatever she was contemplating saying was abruptly cut off by the sudden bleating of the kitchen phone reaching their ears. 

"Ugh," Gloria rolled her eyes, her limp body sliding wearily down against the bathroom counter. "That'll be for me." She reached up weakly to place the ginger ale can on the edge of the sink before struggling to peel herself up off the floor.

"How do you know?" Hopper inquired curiously as he jumped up to help her back onto her feet.

"Ehhhh I told Tammy to call me first thing in the morning to confirm coffee today at _Duke's_. She and Jeff are going up to the Poconos over the weekend, and I agreed to check in on her daschund from time to time. She wants to go over the feeding schedule with me and all that."

Gloria straightened out the hem of her nighty before turning back to eye him gratefully. "If you'll excuse me, hon." She reached up to place a soft peck on his lips before shuffling out the bathroom door.

Hopper trailed after her slowly, mentally cursing goddamn TAMMY for having to call _this early_ in the morning. _For ruining their special moment_. He watched Gloria yank her jade robe out of their closet and wrap it around herself tightly before making her way out into the kitchen. Once he was sure she was nowhere in sight, he crossed over to their shared bureau and, rifling quickly through his own sock drawer, pulled out the tiny, blue velvet box that had housed his mother's ring for the past fifteen years.

He flicked open the lid and stared down at the gleaming, pear-shaped diamond that lay waiting inside. A ring that had once upon a time been meant for Diane, but as she'd never gotten along all that well with his mother anyway (he vaguely recalled her warning him early on in their relationship that Diane was 'nothing but a no-good hussy'), Hop had decided not to ask her for it after all, only ending up with the heirloom in his possession soon after she'd passed. He brushed his thumb over the pair of emerald side stones that dotted the right-hand side, warring with himself furiously over the girl he thought to give it to now.

He wasn't a fool; practically-speaking he knew just how _ridiculous_ the mere idea of proposing to Gloria at this point was. They'd only been dating for a couple of (albeit, _extremely intense_ ) months, and she was still struggling to fight off her body's innate desire to purge (and, sometimes failing, as his last Tuesday morning spent holding her hair back as she worshipped at the porcelain throne could attest). He himself wasn't exactly in the best place physically OR mentally as he fought to lessen his dependence on prescription meds. Though he'd been doing better holding his temper back at home since that blow-up he and Gloria had over the Schlitz a while back, he still found himself snapping at Flo, Callahan and Powell regularly at work, as his lack of an invite to the last four office poker nights could attest.

Even so, Gloria's words from back on the bathroom floor echoed back to him uncomfortably:  _however long this lasts._ He knew the girl had low self-esteem, but damn, was she really already preparing herself for him getting sick of her? And why would she? Didn't he show her every damn day just how happy he was to have her here, how grateful he was for everything she did for him and Jane? _Hadn't he just told her the night before that he loved her?_

He traced a finger slowly along the cool metal of the pale gold band. _Maybe she hadn't really believed him after all..._

_…And what better way to MAKE her believe him?_

Hopper sighed to himself sharply. He knew it was silly to think a mere engagement would be enough to guarantee keeping her here. But…maybe, just maybe, the thought of having a family again was as enticing to her as it was to him. There was still so much sadness behind her eyes whenever he or Jane dared venture a question about her past life, what her family were like and what they were up to now. She'd clearly never gotten over them shutting her out for whatever the hell she'd done (for all of Hopper's expert poking and prodding around the matter, she'd still managed to keep it all a closely-guarded secret). 

God, he was being ridiculous right now. How could he even _consider_ doing something _this_ drastic _this_ soon? Four months ago the idea of even calling a woman back after the first date made his gut twist uncomfortably. Now he was actually thinking of PROPOSING to someone he hadn't even known half a year? It was CRAZY!

_Then again…_

He _had_ taken Jane in on a spur of a dime, despite knowing her less than a full day really. And the litany of baggage she carried around with her certainly outweighed Gloria's by a _very wide_ and _very strange_ margin. Sure, the two of them had gone through more than their fair share of rough patches along the way, but hadn't fate brought them back together in the end? _Twice?_ If he and Jane were simply meant to be, who's to say a marriage with Gloria couldn't work out the same?

And besides, it's not like he had to marry her right away. _Lots_ of people kept up very long engagements. It was just the _promise_ of commitment that mattered in the end after all, right?

Of course, even just the promise itself would almost _certainly_ be the final blow to his reputation in the town. Everywhere he and Gloria went whispers and dirty glares continued to dog them mercilessly, the 4 th of July incident causing the rumors surrounding them to spike triple-fold over the past month and a half. Putting a ring on Gloria's finger THIS quickly afterwards would surely make them the biggest talk of Hawkins since Will Byers disappeared.

His stomach twisted uneasily at the thought of the Byers. More specifically, _Joyce_ , and the reaction she'd had last week when she'd come to pick up Will, and ended up stumbling across the ring where he'd accidentally left it _out in the fucking open._

***

"Hop…what the hell is this?" The brunette's chocolate-fudge eyes had widened to the size of saucers as she'd bent down to pick up the tiny navy box from its spot on the kitchen table. "Is this…is this an engagement ring?"

Hopper shifted uncomfortably under his friend's intense scrutiny. "It was my mom's ring, Joyce. I fished it out of storage a few days back. Just in case."

Joyce narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Just in case of _what_ , Hop?"

Hopper swallowed thickly. "Oh I don't know, I just thought…everything's been working out so well with Gloria around here. She and Jane get on really nicely, I know the kid probably misses having an older lady around the house she can call 'Mom', and—"

" _Oh. My. God_. Hopper!" His old friend gawked at him incredulously. "You are NOT seriously thinking of proposing to her _now_?!"

"Shhhhh!" Hopper waved his finger aggressively down the hallway toward Jane's room, signaling with his other hand for Joyce to keep her voice down. The woman in turn started pacing the entire length of the kitchen frantically.

" _Jesus_ , Hopper! You've only known the girl like, what? Half a minute? I thought it was too soon to be moving her in here as a _nanny_. Now you're actually thinking of _marrying_ her? _Have you lost your damn mind?!_ "

Hopper placed his hands on her shoulders placatingly. "Before you bite my head off Joyce, bear in mind we barely knew Jane before we BOTH took her in during the last year and a half. That all ended up working out great, all things considered." He offered a small smile that was met with a stony visage in response. "And besides all that," he started up again with a swift lick of the lips, "My parents had only been dating for nine months before my Dad popped the question. They lasted a pretty long time, huh? Thirty-one years is nothing to sneeze at."

Joyce shook her head at him sympathetically. "Even so Hop, the poor girl practically just got out of the hospital. You really think she's READY for something like this? You really think YOU'RE ready to make a marriage work with everything you have to juggle around this town?" She paused to roll her eyes dramatically. "And what about Jane? Is she supposed to NEVER use her powers around the house again? Or are you seriously considering dragging poor Gloria into the _Hawkins Three-Ring Supernatural Circus_ along with the rest of us poor shmoes?"

Hopper grunted and shrugged. "I mean…Jane's been doing pretty well keeping her powers a secret. I've no reason to think Gloria suspects anything," he assured the increasingly exasperated woman. "It's not like she isn't free to use them when she's with you and the other kids. We could keep it a secret for a good long while, I think. Heck, maybe after a coupla years, Jane won't even want to use them anymore."

Joyce could only shake her head at him in disbelief.

"Look, I know it's all really tricky right now. _I get it_ ," Hopper started up again, unsure why he was fighting so hard for her approval on this, when he hadn't even decided _himself_ if he could go through with it. "But I wouldn't push to get married right away. We'd probably put the wedding off one to two years to be honest. I just thought…I don't know, maybe giving her something to look forward to would go a long way toward helping her recovery. More of a _promise_ than a full-out engagement really. Showing her how much she means to me…it might help keep her morale up."

Joyce cocked her head at him in full-tilt bewilderment now. "So you're going to commit yourself and Jane by extension to a girl you barely know in the interest of _keeping her morale up_? That makes perfect sense."

Hopper scowled at that. "I know a lot about her, actually."

"Oh, really? Like you knew about the bulimia you mean?"

Hopper breathed in sharply through his nose, not wanting to get into all of this with her right now. "Where is this even coming from, Joyce? I thought you liked her?"

Joyce threw her hands in the air manically. "Hop, I like her plenty. _But this just_ _isn't you_. Ever since that girl wandered into your life you've been acting…different."

Hopper pulled a face at that. "Different _how_?"

She shrugged in response. "I don't know just… _different_. Like…you're _obsessed_ with her or something. Every time I try to talk to you about the kids lately, it's 'Gloria says this, Gloria and I did that'. I've never seen you act like this over a girl, Hop. It's weird."

Hopper couldn't really argue with any of that, and Joyce took his silent affirmation as an opportunity to continue.

"Look: _I get it's been a while since you've been in a relationship_. Believe me, I know just how lonely that can feel." Her chin trembled ever-so-slightly here, and Hopper knew it was all she could do to keep the tears at bay as thoughts of Bob and that awful, awful night at the Lab came rushing back to them both. "And…and I know you want Jane to have a big happy family of her own. But Hop," She lowered her voice so much he had to lean in to her hear her now, "If this doesn't work out because you're rushing into it all way too fast, how do you think that's going to affect _her_? Your relationship is already so shaky, how do you think a new step-mother she can never really be her _true_ self around is going to affect things?"

Hopper had to admit she had him cornered there. Still, something inside him didn't want to acquiesce that quickly. "I already told you: Gloria and Jane get along fabulously. I can't even believe how well she takes care of her sometimes. And Jane's never once made me feel like she resents not being able to use any powers around her. Believe you me: _that one never shies away from letting me know when she's angry_."

Joyce closed her eyes and sighed, and Hopper could tell she was mentally debating whether or not to keep fighting him on this. _But Joyce would always be Joyce, of course._

"Okay, but," she finally began again after a few more seconds' silence, "don't you think it would be smarter to wait 'til you've known the girl _at least a year_ before you do something this drastic? Make sure the three of you actually _work_ long-term before taking that big of a leap?"

"I waited a year to propose to Diane. Look how that panned out."

Joyce contemplated him for several long moments before something seemed to click behind her eyes. "So that's it then? You wanna ask her now because you think it'll up the chances of her staying with you?" She began to nod her head up and downcomprehendingly. "I mean look, no one understands better than me, when you come from a broken home, wanting so so badly to rebuild your family. But c'mon Hop: _are you really so desperate you would risk such an awful mistake?_ "

Before another word could be said, the sound of a pair of locks being clicked open on the front door echoed from the outer hallway.

"Honey, I'm home!" Gloria called to him chipperly as she strolled into the cabin, a heaping grocery bag cradled gingerly in each arm. "Oh hi there, Joyce!" Gloria greeted the other woman as she hoisted both satchels atop the rickety old kitchen counter. "Are you and Will staying for lunch? I was going to make tuna salad."

Joyce shot Hopper one last meaningful look before opening her mouth to respond. "Uhhh no, sorry dear, I uh. I actually just came to pick up Will for clarinet practice. He's waiting for me in the car as we speak, I really do have to get going." She graced the girl with one last friendly smile before making her way quickly out the front door.

Hopper sighed and scratched at the back of his neck _. The one person he thought might be able to understand._

"Everything okay, hon?" Gloria paused in the middle of unpacking the groceries to shake him out of his reverie.

"Yeah, babydoll." He walked over to wrap both hands firmly around her tiny waist, pulling her in for a slow, lingering kiss. "Everything's fine. Perfectly fine."

***

Except it really _wasn't_ , because despite all of Joyce's sensible warnings that day, and his own basic instincts that'd been SCREAMING at him otherwise since the idea even popped into his head, right now he wanted nothing more than to march into that kitchen and present the woman he loved with this ring. To make her see how much she meant to him.

_To make her promise not to leave him._

And _that_ terrified him more than an entire legion of demogorgons ever could.

"Dad?"

Hopper slammed the ring box shut so fast it made a crack as loud as a gunshot. Cramming the tiny velvet case back into the sock drawer behind him, he whirled around to find Jane standing awkwardly in the bedroom doorway, eyes darting between him and the bureau, a small crinkle steadily imbedding itself deeper and deeper between her eyebrows.

"Mornin' kiddo, what's up?"

"I um," Jane shifted her gaze from the sock drawer to her sneakers for a long moment before taking a deep breath and continuing, "I don't know if you remember me telling you, but Mike's birthday is coming up in a few days and, well…I was wondering if maybe I could borrow a little cash for his present? Like, if you could maybe give me some extra allowance now, instead of for the next few weeks? I really want to get him something nice." She peered up at him shyly through her eyelashes, fingers twisting themselves nervously together behind her back.

Hopper grinned at her warmly before reaching over to a small swath of black leather sitting atop his dressing bureau. "Sure kiddo, I don't mind giving you an advance. Around how much we talking 'bout?"

"Dustin mentioned something about a twenty dollar cap."

"Ah," he nodded his head comprehendingly while fishing two crisp ten dollar bills from out of the inner folds of the wallet.

"He also said if I break it he's going to get Max to pound me. Powers or no powers."

Hopper snorted. "Well we can't be having that, now can we?" He winked at Jane as he handed her the money, she in turn practically _beaming_ at him in gratitude and relief.  

"Thanks, Dad!" She reached up on tip toes to plant a quick peck on his right cheek, blushing furiously as she straightened herself back down immediately afterwards. Hopper couldn't help the goofy grin spreading rapidly across his face. 

"Wow, if I'd known it'd only take twenty bucks to make you all kissy kissy again, I'd have given you an advance weeks ago."

Jane blushed even harder at that, uncertain how to respond. Thankfully the awkward silence between them was quickly broken by a now fully-composed Gloria peeking her head through the open door. 

"Guys hurry up now, breakfast is ready and oatmeal is gross when you let it get cold. _Trust me_."

Jane forced a weak smile on her face before turning around and making her way towards the kitchen with Gloria, shoving the ten dollar bills deep inside her jeans' pocket as she went. Hopper trailed along right behind.

The three quickly took their seats around the worn wooden table, Hopper suppressing a laugh as Gloria ladled a heaping spoonful of cinnamon maple porridge all over Jane's stack of eggos ("It's delicious, I promise!"). He in turn took the opportunity to pour her a giant mug of coffee as she finished plating his own meal, earning him a drawn-out game of footsie under the table as a reward. 

"So Jane," Gloria began in between small spoonfuls of oatmeal and cream. "What's on your agenda for this morning, hmm? Any new books to read?"

Jane paused in the middle of inhaling the porridge and waffle combo she'd been gifted to eye Gloria thoughtfully. "Well I was actually hoping you could take me to _Starcourt Mall_ today before Will gets here. I need to get Mike a birthday present ASAP."

"Oh," Gloria's cheeks reddened slightly then. "I'm terribly sorry, dear, but I actually already have plans this morning. Can it wait until tomorrow? Mike's birthday isn't for another few days anyway, right?"

Jane's face fell somewhat at that. "It's just…I kinda wanted to give him my present while we were at the movies tomorrow. You know, _alone_." She shifted somewhat nervously in her seat as Hopper's amused gaze quickly morphed into a glower. _Just how had he let Gloria talk him into letting those two go out unchaperoned, again?_

Gloria nodded sympathetically. "Ahhhh, I see. Say no more, dearest. I wouldn't DREAM of standing in the way of true love." She winked conspiratorily at the girl, causing her to chuckle a bit in relief.

"'I'll rearrange my schedule so we can go today. Around ten-thirty good for you, pumpkin?"

Jane nodded enthusiastically. "Thanks, Gloria. I appreciate it."

Hopper shook his head at his girlfriend from across the table. " _You're turning into such a softee, Mrs. Poppins **.**_ It's a wonder anything gets done around here the way you let this one walk all over you." He jerked his thumb at an increasingly giggly Jane as Gloria shrugged at him nonchalantly in response. 

"D'awwww well, how can I not be when it comes to this face?" She reached over to nip Jane's chin softly with her thumb and forefinger. The teenager actually blushed a bit from the ticklish contact before sticking her tongue out at her nanny in response. 

The three of them found themselves laughing then, genuinely _laughing_ all together for the first time since Gloria had moved in. The significance wasn't lost on Hopper.

_Are you really that desperate to rebuild your family…?_

_Maybe he was. If it meant getting to have_ this _all the damn time, then maybe he really was…_

_…So fucking what?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hmm, no," Jane shook her head firmly and slid the copy of _Gravitar_ back onto its space on the display rack. She'd looked through at least twenty other Atari titles in the last ten minutes already, but couldn't seem to muster an ounce of excitement at the prospect of giving any one of them to Mike. She needed something different. Something _special_. But what?

Jane caught her nanny's eye as the older woman glanced over from where she stood examining something called an _EMF Meter_ (whatever that was).

"Everything okay, sweetie?" Gloria swiftly made her way back over to where Jane stood gazing miserably at the display shelf.

The teen sighed. "I have no idea what I should get for him to be honest with you," she mumbled a little despondently. "I mean, I guess it would make sense to just get him another video game, but I'm pretty sure that's what the other guys will all get for him too, so it won't really be anything 'special'. Just…more of the same, I guess," she finished with a small shrug and eyes downcast to the mottled tile floor.

"Ahhhh, I see," Gloria replied with a knowing smile. "This can't just be another run-of-the-mill birthday present, can it? This has to be really personal. Something that will say, 'I see you. I know you. I _love_ you'. That about right?"

Jane nodded furiously. "Yeah but, what could I pick out for him that would say all that?"

"Well let's see," Gloria started chewing the tip of her tongue thoughtfully. "You spend a lot of time with him. Think about his interests. And I'm not talking about video games, every teenage boy under the sun is into those. I'm talking about something unique to _him_. Something he cares about more than anyone you know. That one thing that whenever he talks about it, gets him all lit up like a Christmas tree. Besides _you_ of course," she capped off with a small smirk.

Jane's cheeks reddened slightly. "Well, I know he's really into building model cars and planes and stuff," she began again after a few moments' contemplation. "Lucas and Max like to make fun of him for it, they say it's lame and he might as well collect stamps, but I think it's kinda cool. The way he can figure out how to fit all those different pieces together, I'd say that's pretty awesome," she finished with a small smile, her face now burning more scarlet than ever.  

"Well there you go," Gloria offered with an approving nod. "Just ask yourself what someone who enjoys building models might get a kick out off for their birthday. Maybe a brand new Tiger Shark? Ooh, or that Chevy Bel Air they've been advertising like crazy on TV!" she suggested with an enthusiastic clap of her hands.

"I don't think either of those things will cost less than twenty dollars though," Jane pulled out the twin ten dollar bills from deep inside her pocket. "I don't have any more than this, and even if I did, everyone agreed the birthday cap was going to be twenty."

Gloria waved a hand at her dismissively. "I'll float you whatever you need, babe, don't worry. It's the _least_ I can do after everything we've been through, right?" She beamed down at her charge warmly, but Jane just bit her lip.

"I think the guys would be really mad at me if I broke the rules."

The older woman scoffed. "So we'll just scrape off the price tag and if they ask, tell 'em we got it on sale at a _Kmart_. Nobody will ever know, except you and Mike of course. Just think how touched he'll be when he sees how much you decided to spend on him. He won't care about some stupid rule," She assured her with a matronly pat on the shoulder. "Trust me babe, _you'll be nothing short of golden_ , 'cause every time Mike plays with it, he'll associate it with _you_ , and he'll remember that out of _all_ the people he knows, _you're_ the one who appreciates what makes him different. What makes him, _him_. Foolproof way to keep your man hooked honey, _trust me_."

She winked at the girl conspiratorily at that, but Jane could only crinkle her eyebrows in response. _Wasn't life hard enough without having to play all these silly games just to keep people liking you?_

Still though… she really _did_ want to give Mike the best gift out of anyone in the Party…

"I guess I could get him a new rocket-building kit," Jane decided after another long minute had passed. "He mentioned wanting to build a replica of the Delta II someday. But it's probably twice as much as this," she lifted the twenty dollars sheepishly, but Gloria ignored it.

"That's my girl," she grinned at her charge fondly. "And luckily for you, I know just the place we can pick one up."

Jane followed Gloria quickly out of the corner _RadioShack_ and into a little arts and crafts shop several doors down the mall courtyard. After about another fifteen minutes of examining the different Delta replicas on display, Jane settled on the Dragon Model 7925, deciding it looked _just_ challenging enough to hold's Mike interest for a good long while. Despite her continued misgivings, the teen couldn't help but beam warmly at Gloria as she handed both the twenty dollars from Hopper and _another_ _extra thirty_ over to the cashier. As much as she loved Mama Joyce, she was pretty sure she'd _never_ go this far to help her out with a present for Mike. 

"I can't wait to see his face tomorrow. He's going to give me the biggest kiss!" She was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet now, the sheer thought sending butterflies fluttering around her stomach manically.

Gloria chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Ahhh first love. So _inspiring_ ," She clutched a hand to her heart with an overdramatic sigh as the pair walked out of the crafts store together. Jane couldn't resist nudging the older woman playfully in the ribs, unintentionally causing both to double over in laughter as they made their way down to the other side of the strip.

Just as Jane was finally able to come back up for some air, her eyes fell on a nearby kiosk, practically lined top to bottom with the widest assortment of beaded necklaces, bracelets, and headbands she'd ever seen gathered in one place. The virtual rainbow of colors, shapes, and styles among the different pieces were all equally dazzling, but the one jewel that had caught her eye right away was a large, lemon-lime firefly pendant, surrounded by no less than a dozen topaz-colored beads lining both sides of the tie-string.

"Look Gloria, just like one of your fireflies," she nudged the other woman again and pointed. "And it's so prettttty," she moaned longingly at the plaster bust currently donning the coveted jewel.

Gloria barely wasted any time before ushering her right on over to the kiosk. "Let's go get it for you, then."

Jane's eyes widened in response. "You really don't have to do that," she insisted with a small shake of the head.

Gloria rolled her eyes. "Oh c'mon now, _fireflies are kinda our thing_. How could I waste the opportunity? Bet Will gets a kick out of it too," she added with a throaty giggle. But Jane just shook her head.

"You've already spent enough on me today. And, Hopper told me you don't really have all that much…" she trailed off a little awkwardly then, shuffling her feet where she stood.

Gloria just smirked. "Your Daddy doesn't know everything, sweetheart. Remember?"

The teen swallowed thickly at that. The last thing she wanted right now was a reminder of just how dishonest they'd both been with her father all summer. Of course, the firefly itself would be a pretty big memento of all the times they'd gone behind his back together, wouldn't it?

Maybe she shouldn't have pointed out just how pretty the necklace was after all…

"C'mon," Gloria beckoned her forward with one hand as she used the other to lift the necklace off the display bust. Brushing Jane's mop of chestnut curls over to one side, she gingerly placed the jewel around Jane's pale, bare throat, even as it bobbed up and down in uncertainty.

"Look how beautifully this suits you, Jane," Gloria pointed to the girl's reflection in the little table mirror on the left-hand side of the kiosk. "Brings out all the orange flecks in those _gorgeous_ brown eyes of yours."

The teen couldn't resist admiring the way the pendant sat gleaming around her throat. Gloria was right; it really _did_ make her eyes sparkle.

But even that wasn't enough to set her mind at ease.   

"Are you sure?"

Gloria chortled. " _Of course_ , silly girl! What fun would it be to nanny a pretty little thing like you and _not_ get to doll you all up like the princess you are?" She winked at her fondly in the mirror then. "Besides, you're a great kid. You deserve to be spoiled from time to time." She gave both of the girl's shoulders a warm pat before striding over to the disinterested red-head currently manning the cash register. Jane knew she probably should have just flat-out refused it then, but somehow she couldn't seem to stop admiring the way the jewel looked on her in the mirror...

_Well, if Gloria says she can afford it._

The teen flashed her nanny with a wide grin. "Thanks, Gloria." Jane fingered the necklace fondly where it sat glimmering around her neck. "I love it. _I really do_."

***

"You sure you don't want one of my corndogs?"

Jane couldn't help feeling guilty digging into the _Nathan's_ DoubleDog Combo she'd ordered while Gloria simply sat slurping an Orange Julius on the other side of the table. She knew the woman was still struggling with some kind of stomach sickness, but it still didn't feel right to eat so much right in front of her. But Gloria just shook her head with a small smile.

"Nah, I'm good sweetie. You enjoy your meal. I'll be fine with this," she nodded towards her drink.

Jane didn't say anything again for several long minutes, eyes wandering intermittently among the crowd of people who'd thronged to the food court after a long, lazy afternoon of shopping. When Hopper first started taking her out around Hawkins, crowds hadn't really affected her all that much, beyond making her act a little bit antsy. The girl had quickly gotten over it though, once she'd come to realize pretty much _no one_ could be bothered to stare at her or even pay her any mind at all. To everyone else, she was _normal._

But sometime after she turned fourteen, Jane had found that more and more, she couldn't help but notice a certain _chatter_ surrounding everybody else, even if their lips weren't actually moving. It wasn't so bad when she was at home or even at D&D sessions with the Party, but being out in crowds quickly became a source of some discomfort and even confusion for her. At the time it'd reminded the teen of one of the experiments they'd conducted on her at the lab way back when. _The one where Papa would make her put on really big headphones and then blast all those different sounds in her ears, ordering her to try and pick out sentences out of all the blather._

Yeah, _blather_. That'd been the best word for it, Jane had found, because none of what she could pick up on now ever really came to her as words. It was more like… _feelings_.

'Telempathy'; that was the word Mike had used when Jane had tried to explain it all to him. The ability to read emotions, intent.

When the teen was in a really good mood, like today, or that night at the carnival, it was pretty easy for her to block most of the chatter out. Or at the very least, _focus_ it. If she concentrated really hard on the table next to them, for example, she'd only have to deal with a few bursts of energy here and there from the eight-year-old tossing pepperonis into his sister's mouth. Or the low, bored hum surrounding their poor, tired-looking babysitter. All that was easy enough for the teen to handle, almost _enjoyable_ even. Getting to experience normal people's feelings always helped the girl feel like she _herself_ had lived a normal life, or at least make-believe like she had.

Of course, _too much_ focusing like that meant some people could really surprise her…

That was the thing about Gloria. Her feelings always came out so much _darker_ than everybody else's.  Like this big black cloud of angry, _frightened_ wasps were always buzzing around her head wherever she went. It'd made her stick out like a sore thumb to the girl the day they'd first met at the ice cream shop, so much so Jane couldn't believe she hadn't picked up on a change in the air from the moment the woman arrived into town.

"Everything alright, hon?" Jane blinked a couple of times at the sound of Gloria's voice, quickly realizing she'd been staring at her nanny's face without moving for the last two or three minutes. It didn't take much more than the small pounding that had suddenly popped up in her forehead to tell she'd made the older woman strangely uncomfortable. "Your food okay and everything?"

Jane immediately forced her eyes back down to her platter. "Y-yeah, everything's great." She nodded with a bright smile then, and the pounding began to ease up on her a bit. But only a _bit_.

"Something on your mind, dear?" Her nanny was the one staring now, a small crinkle forming between those perfectly plucked eyebrows. Jane swallowed, unsure what she ought to say to try and make things normal again. After another minute the teen finally opened her mouth again with some excuse about "thinking of Mike" on the tip of her tongue, but something entirely different ended up spilling out from between her lips instead.

"How did they get you to do what they wanted?"

Gloria stirred in her seat abruptly. Jane herself wasn't sure what made her ask it just then, of all the times, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to take the question back. It'd been _killing her_ to know.

The buzzing was so loud now Jane's right temple almost felt _sore_.

"I'm not sure I understand the question, sweetheart."

Jane remained silent in response at first, knowing full well the older woman understood her **_perfectly_**.

After a long thirty seconds she squared her shoulders a bit before continuing, "I just mean…you're really good at playing with people, you know?" Jane flinched slightly once she said it, hoping the chatter wasn't about to make her head feel like it might explode, but thankfully she could pick up no sign of the older woman taking any offense. "How did you let _yourself_ get tripped up so badly? You seem like you'd be a really difficult person to lie to."

A small smile emerged on Gloria's features then, though Jane couldn't sense a single brightspot within the black. "I was young, stupid, and insecure as all hell, honey," she explained with a brief shrug. "Really not that hard to manipulate. The ordinary always long for greatness to a degree those who are _truly great_ will never be able to fathom. And far too often than not, we'll do anything to get it," she capped off with a distant sigh.

Jane stared at her blankly, Gloria's meaning going _way_ above her head now. "The _truly_ _great_?" She repeated uncertainly.

"Well, I mean, let's take _you_ for example, Jane," Gloria pointed at her with a perfectly polished pink fingernail. "You have powers I can't even BEGIN to wrap my skull around a human being having. But you don't spend your time thinking about all the ways you can use them to get attention, do you? You don't _need_ that kind of validation from the outside world. Maybe it's cause you've always been this way, I don't know." She shook her head bitterly, reaching over to yank a paper plate of food off Jane's tray toward her, cutting up the rest of the corndog that lay there a little more roughly than the teen might consider "normal".  Jane for her part found herself simply staring again, unable to move her eyes from the furious scurry of her nanny's hands even if she wanted to.  

_The buzzing was so loud inside her skull now it was hard for the teen to hear the actual words coming out of the other woman's mouth._

"It was different with me, though," Gloria continued after another few moments of tense silence stretched on between them.

" _I was never inherently special._ If anything, as a kid I was nothing short of painfully ordinary," she admitted with a small slurp of her Orange Julius. "But then one fine day something _everybody_ told you was make-believe gets blasted out of the sky and lands in your backyard; ooooh that's enough to make you feel special, boy. Like you've been CHOSEN." She paused to plop a particularly _large_ piece of corndog into her mouth then, closing her eyes and relishing the taste with a small moan. Jane shoved her own plate of food away to rest her elbows on the table, cradling her head between her fingers as she tried to make sense of the woman's ramblings.

"So you're saying…you were tricked because you didn't like being ordinary?"

Gloria chuckled at that. "Like I said, honey, it's a problem you could probably never understand. And good for you. But when you go your whole life as just another face in the crowd, when you long for something _better_ , you're an easy target. And then the people who want to exploit that, all they gotta do is play up to your sense of ego. Make you feel like yes, it's true, you HAVE been chosen for greatness. It's ALL part of your destiny. _But_ you're not quite there yet," she caveated with an elaborate wag of her index finger. "Oh no no no, you have to jump through all their little 'hoops' first in order to get there. That's how they get ya hooked, see. They make you think as long as you do whatever the hell they say,  your greatness will eventually manifest."

She stabbed at a french fry angrily with a plastic fork as she continued, " _But then doing what they want means fucking over everybody else in the process._ And once they've sucked you dry and gotten you to fuck everyone they wanna fuck _for them_ , they toss you aside like yesterday's garbage. And you're left with absolutely goddamn _nothing_. And not only are you _not_ special, you're a fucking asshole who gets your friends and family killed. Or in this particular situation," she gestured between her and Jane, "Much _worse_."

Jane stared at her horrified. "You really think it's worse?"

Gloria cocked her head to the right, silently waiting for elaboration.

"You really think the Upside Down's worse than being dead?"

Gloria paused with her fork mid-way to her mouth. And all at once, since the very first time they'd met, all the chatter and buzzing and darkness that always seemed to swirl around the older woman seemed to vanish entirely. _If only for the moment._

Lowering her fork slowly back onto the plastic tray beneath her, Gloria shifted firmly where she sat to look Jane dead in the eye.

"I've _been_ dead, sweetheart. _Many many_ times." The woman didn't even bat an eyelash as she said it, and yet Jane now found herself blinking furiously in rapid succession. "I've been to that one space carved out and away from all the pain and vanity that consumes everything else. Where there's only beauty, and light, and _absolute freedom_. _It's as real and as accessible as the Upside Down is, Jane_. But just like the Upside Down, people over here are too materialistic to really wrap their petty little heads around it. Don't be like them, Jane. You're much better and smarter than that."

She leaned over and took the teen's small, pale hand into her own then.

"If there's anything I leave you with when all is said and done, kid, let it be this: only the short-sighted fear death. Only weak people fear the unknown. Only the most _pathetically shallow_ among us manage to convince themselves that the physical is all there is. You are not an idiot Jane, neither are you weak or pathetic. Don't dumb yourself down to fit in with anybody on this side of the veil. It's the worst thing you could do with the talents given you."

For a long moment they just sat there doing nothing but _looking_ at each other, Jane unable and unwilling to do much else but soak in the rich, warm glow that seemed to envelope them now. But as the seconds continued to pass _tiny little specks_ of the black started creeping their way back in, infecting everything. And right along with them, a new curiosity began to emerge just as urgently in Jane.

"Is that why you keep doing this to yourself?" She was gripping the older woman's hand so tightly in her own it had turned whiter than the table beneath them. "The Crystal, I mean," she clarified in barely a whisper. "Like, you told us you knew someone else who could use it, but you still keep on doing it yourself, even though you're so sick. Is…is that why? Do you wish you could…you know…go back _there_."

Gloria blinked her eyes slowly and sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger wearily.

"Look, kid," she finally began again after taking Jane's other hand in her own. "As tough as life can be here sometimes, we're still here for a reason. We're still here for something to learn. _To impress on this little corner of the realm,_ while we're here. Me…I have too many debts to pay right now to kick the bucket. And I can promise you I'm not going anywhere until I finish what we started."

"But will you?" Jane leaned over further, so close their noses were almost touching now. "When this is all over and everything…are you going to…?"

_The chatter grew so loud for a good long moment Jane thought it just might destroy her hearing for good._

It wasn't until Gloria stirred in her seat once more, eyes transfixed by her rapidly blinking watch, that the world around them seem to go back to normal. Jane could even make out the annoying beeping sound emanating from the tiny timepiece now after a quick shake of her head.  

"Oh, shit. I almost forgot," Gloria reached over to her left wrist and tapped the tiny silver dial jutting out on the right-hand side of the watch. "Listen Jane, I need to run across the street to the pharmacy real quick. _Need to go grab some lady products_. Do you mind finishing up here? I'll be back in a jiff, we'll meet up in front of the _Cinnabon_ , m'kay?"

Without waiting for a response, Gloria bustled her way quickly through the maze of plastic tables, leaving Jane in her seat all alone. _Wondering vaguely where the hell her nanny was really headed off to._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gloria heaved an enormous sigh as she navigated her way across the blustery mall parking lot. She should _never_ have let herself get that vulnerable with the kid. What had she been thinking? Maybe it really _had_ been one too many months without someone she could talk to with no filters. 

She grinned to herself. Luckily her _prior_ engagement from that morning would soon rectify all that.

Gloria stopped right at the edge of the curb, counting five cars down from her current position before making her way towards the forest green Subaru currently occupying that particular spot. Tapping three times on the passenger side window, she waited for the sound of the car door to unlock before swinging it open and darting quickly inside. Gloria turned immediately to the driver's seat to flash a warm, genuine smile for its occupant: a man, early thirties, with russet skin and jet black hair that brushed ever-so-slightly into his eyes.

"Wow. Eleven twenty-five on the dot. I'm impressed, Sweets."

Gloria winked as she situated herself comfortably within the car. "Well you know me, D.P. I'm nothing if not punctual."

He chuckled long and low at that. "Yeah, that's why I'm waiting three months for intel you should have been able to produce for me in two fucking weeks. Sooooo very punctual."

Gloria's eyes narrowed sharply at that, the smile wiped clean off her face. _So this was going to be_ that _kind of visit, huh?_

"I got you photos of every fucking file in that trailer by the second date," she countered at him incredulously. "Not my fault if your contacts in Tulsa can't do diddly squat with 'em."

The man called D.P. shook his head with a small smirk, finally shifting his body to fully face hers now. "How many times have we been through this rigamarole, Sweets? You know damn well that nothing in those files is any good to me if I don't have access to HNL's mainframe _._  It's like handing me a cipher without the key that goes along with it. Fucking useless."

Gloria sighed, cradling her forehead in her hands now. "Is that why you insisted on seeing me today? To chew me out?" She snorted sardonically. "Typical. I get closer than ever to freeing them and you decide now's just the _perfect_ time to get inside my head and guilt trip me for not doing whatever the hell it is YOU want—"

"Oh stop being so melofuckingdramatic," D.P. shot across at her with an angry hiss. "You wouldn't even _be_ here right now if I hadn't dug up all those articles that Bauman guy put out last year. That doesn't even get into all the money I've had to flush down the toilet the past three months 'cause you can't control yourself for fucking shit. _Who's the one paying for all your hospital bills, huh?_ Or your fucking therapy, for all the good it's doing you." He eyed her up and down in distaste now, and Gloria found herself having to bunch her hands around her skirt to keep them from shaking under the scrutiny. "I don't even want to know who or what else you're spending so much fucking money on that I have to cut you six hundred dollars every goddamn month—"

"May I remind you that when you first reached out to me again, you couldn't even scrape a gig teaching ten-year-olds Spanish thanks to goddamn Honeycutt," she muttered at him darkly through bared, clenched teeth. "I think considering _I've_ been the one pulling off all these jobs for us, that entitles me to a pretty big portion of the pot, don't you?"

D.P. rolled his eyes heavily at her. "You are draining our _very limited_ resources while taking your sweet ass time to get shit done. _Excuse me for wondering what the hell gives_."

Gloria heaved an enormous sigh. " _You know damn well this isn't like the others, D.P._ You read his profile: Hopper was a fucking _detective_ back in New York, remember? You know how much work it is keeping him snowed? Or making sure those kids stay in fucking line? _Or keeping up this bullshit "Mary Poppins" façade you got me running the past five years?_ I'm only one person, for fuck's sake."

He wagged a long, lithe finger in her face at that. "Nah, nah, nah. I don't buy it for a second. I've seen marks hand you the keys to the kingdom within _weeks_ of batting those pretty little eyelashes in their direction. It's not that you _can't_ , it's that something's holding you back."

She turned to look out the passenger side window, rapidly losing interest in the conversation now. "Holding me back, huh? Yeah that's why I pushed to move in with the dude after two and a half months, 'cause I'm being 'held back'. Uhuh."

"You wanna to know what I think?"

"Right now, D.P., I want nothing more than to leave this fucking car, because you are acting like the biggest fucking tool on the face of the goddamn planet."

"I think you like him."

She actually blanched in her seat at that. " _Are you for real?_ "

"Aaaand you just confirmed it." D.P. leaned back in his seat, a look of smug satisfaction spreading across his face that didn't _quite_ reach up to his eyes.

"Confirmed _what_?"

"You LIKE him. That's why you're not milking this any harder than you have been. Snowing him long enough to get the gate back open is easy enough, when you can keep him in this weird domestic 'bubble' you've built for the two of you," he twirled both index fingers in mid-air to form a perfect circle. "But pumping him for an in to HNL? Nah. That's one step too far. You know what could happen if the fallout's bad enough, and fuck, it just makes you feel too _goddamn guilty_ doesn't it? 'Cause you _like_ him."

Thick, _tense_ silence permeated the air like a foul stench between them. "I think all this moving around's finally made you lose it, D.P." Gloria finally piped up again a full minute and a half later, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger exasperatedly.

He reached over to tweak her fingers off her face. "How many times have I told you that's your biggest fucking tell, huh?"

"How many times have I told you to stop assigning meaning to things when they aren't there, _Mr. Intellectual?_ "

D.P. crinkled his nose at her. "I don't know why you're trying so hard to deny it, Sweets. Hardly the first time this has happened. I still remember that scrub back in L.A. you could barely peel yourself off of long enough to steal his keycards--"

"You know what Dante? _Fuck you_."

He actually laughed out loud at that. "Hey Sweets, _I wish you would_. It's been a looooong three months," he licked his lips lavisciously at her and winked, prompting a drawn-out eye-roll in response. "But you're too busy playing house with Barnaby Jones to wrap this bullshit the fuck up so we can get on with things."

"Jesus!" Gloria bashed both hands on the dashboard so hard she was surprised she hadn't broken both of her wrists. " _You're a fucking piece of shit_ , Portales. You know that? Fucking low-life piece of absolute horse shit."

"Yeah, than why've you been hanging out with me this long? Says more about you than it does me, don't ya think?"

She bit down on her lower lip so hard it almost bled. "If you even have to _ask_ me that question Dante," she finally began again moments later, voice shaking with unmitigated indignance, "then I think you and I are done here. You can figure out how to hack into the goddamn lab by your fucking self. I have more important things to worry about. _Like our friends' lives_."

She reached over to yank at the silver door handle, clenching her hand around the shiny cold metal and gleefully imagining D.P.'s throat between her fingers.

"Wait, wait, wait." He gripped her gently but firmly by the arm then, coaxing her tiny form back into the passenger seat with an apologetic grimace. "Jesus, woman." He took a deep breath, wiping a hand across his tired face. " _I'm sorry_ , alright. You think when I drove out here today I was planning on biting your head off? I just…I don't understand why you're stringing it out this long. And I refuse to believe you're losing your touch. _The way lover-boy glared daggers at me that night at the bar_ , fuck man, I'm pretty sure the dude would straight up _murder_ for you at this point. You really want me to believe you can't get him to spill his guts? Sorry babe, but I call bull."

Gloria nodded slowly at that. "Look, I get what you're saying, D.P. _But we're so fucking close to getting them out_. I just…I need to handle this _delicately_ , okay? I have to make it seem like he didn't have any other choice but to come clean. Otherwise my cover's blown to bits and our last shot of getting them the fuck out of that Hellscape is gone. And then what was the point of any of this, really?" She capped off with a dramatic toss of both arms in the air.

They were both quiet for a very long moment before Gloria finally spoke up again. "That's not the only reason you're mad though, is it?" She finally mustered the courage to tackle the elephant in the room head-on. "You really think this one's getting to me huh? That once we get 'em out I'm going to tell you to piss the hell off and keep on playing house with the Sheriff for as long as I can make it last? But c'mon D.P., of ALL the marks in ALL the places we've had to hit, have I ever let _any_ of them get to me that much? _Have I ever put a single one of them over you_?"

He fixed her with a soft gaze then before mustering a whispy, " _No_."

"That's right. I haven't. _You've always been my number one, D.P.,_ through thick and thin. And you always will be. I mean that." She tilted his head up, forcing somber, coppery eyes to meet steely hazel ones. "Now look at me and tell me I'm lying."

He sighed, contemplating her silently for several long seconds before finally opening his mouth again. "Look I…I get this one's hard. Cause you are so damn close, after all this time. But c'mon Sweets: what good is saving _just_ them, if we let people like Honeycutt keep getting away with this shit? _We need to put a stop to it all._ Every last bit of it."

She grinned at him reassuringly. "Believe me, I know. And I'm going to do that, Dante. _We're_ going to do that." She traced her finger down his cheek all the way to his chin, drawing him slowly closer to her. "Together." Her soft, pale lips met his rough, hungry ones, and she knew when all was said and done she still had him in her corner, _through thick and thin_.

"I better get going," she whispered softly after pulling away, ignoring the disappointed look that had alighted in his eyes now. "Don't wanna keep the kid waiting all that long. I'll call you again on Monday, I promise." 

She made her way out of the Subaru then, pausing to blow D.P. one last parting kiss before slamming the car door shut and turning back toward the _Starcourt_ parking lot…

…where she saw Jane not ten feet behind her, eyes wide and jaw slacked, her whole body shaking in fury as she stared unblinkingly at the woman not ten minutes ago she'd actually considered a friend.

_Well, crap._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took every ounce of willpower Jane possessed not to flick her wrist and slam the older woman into an oncoming truck.

As it was she knew her father would never believe her if she tried to say it was an accident, or even if she tried telling him the whole truth after all. He'd think she'd finally gone completely mad and did away with his girlfriend just because she could. The way he'd looked at her when he'd first found them out in the woods on the 4th of July had said _everything_.

The older woman sighed as she made her way over to where the girl stood. "I thought I told you to wait for me in the food court, Jane."

Jane bared her teeth at that, shaking her head irately. "Got a feeling there was something I needed to see out here. _Guess it was right_."

Gloria licked her lips thoughtfully, staring at her feet now. "Listen, Jane…"

"Do you even like him at all?"

Gloria's eyes snapped back up abruptly to bore into hers. "W-what?"

" _Hopper_." The girl clarified with a steely glare. "Do you have any real feelings for him at all? Or is he just some 'toy' for you to play around with until you get your way? Is that what Will and me are to you too, huh? Just your little _puppets_?" She spat the last word out so harshly it made the older woman flinch.

"Jane, _please_ ," Gloria lifted both hands in the air placatingly. "We've talked about this before. I don't like having to lie to your Dad. _I don't like having to do any of this._ But it _is_ necessary. And when it's over, I'm going to do everything in my power to make amends."

"He's thinking of proposing to you, you know?" Jane bit out at her sharply, tears leaking out the corners of her eyes now. "I even saw him with the ring today. _He loves you that much_. Did you know about that? Did you pick up on it at all? Or was that just part of your 'plan' all along?"

It didn't take much more than the look of absolute shock in the older woman's eyes now to tell Jane that it actually wasn't. Somehow that made everything all the more worse.

She grabbed at the lemon-lime firefly gleaming around her throat, yanking it straight to the ground. Gloria shut her eyes tightly and inhaled.

"Jane, listen to me—"

"You're just a liar. A dirty, no-good, cowardly little—"

"Dammit Jane! Listen to me!" She shrieked so loud a few passerby began to stare. "Listen to me," she said it much more calmer, quietly now. "I'm… _I'm  a bad person_." The words got caught painfully in her throat, and even Jane ended up blanching. Gloria continued, "I make no bones about this, never have, never will. _The things I do are awful._ And dragging you, and Will, and your father into this, it's unforgivable. _Believe me, I get that_."

Tears began to stream down the older woman's face now, and for all that Jane wanted to be able to believe this was just _yet another one of her pretends_ , her senses wouldn't allow for it. "But you and I both know why we have to finish this thing, for better or for worse. So you can hate me all you like, I don't blame you in the least. _But we need to see this through_. _We need to play 'happy family' until we get the job done, as dirty as it is_. Otherwise, this whole summer was for nothing. You leaving the Byers was for nothing. And those poor creatures will be stuck in that hell-hole 'til God only knows when. Is that really something you think you can live with? Is that something you can go to bed at night not giving a shit about, with all that you know? _With all that you've seen?_ 'Cause that would say a hell of a lot more about _you_ than me if you could."

Jane swallowed thickly, eyes never leaving Gloria's for a second. After what seemed like an eternity had passed between them she finally broke the staring match they'd been death-locked in, folding her arms around herself tightly.  

_I just want all this to be over._

Taking a giant huff of air, she flung the shopping bag with Mike's Delta II rocket inside without warning straight into Gloria's chest, wordlessly turning to march across the parking lot towards her nanny's cherry red minivan. The older woman on her part wasted no time trailing right behind, pausing only to stoop down and grab the firefly necklace the girl had abandoned on the concrete parking lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper groaned as he flicked off the ignition, flinging the door to his blazer open haphazardly and making his way out of the truck with dragging feet. Today had been a DOOZY of a day at the station. Something about the last few weeks of summer vacation always seemed to inspire the younger folk around town to start going batshit crazy with the juvenile pranks. It was bad enough when Mrs. Dubcheck expected him to throw little Lottie Loeb in jail just for throwing water balloons at her particularly nasty pitbull, Spike. Having to _actually_ throw that little piece of shit Troy whatever-the-hell-his-last-name-was in the pen for a good few hours after _blowing up his neighbor's mailbox_ had been an exercise in trying his patience. And unwillingness not to shoot a minor.

Between all of that, and not being able to take even _one_ Tuinal all afternoon long, Hopper was thoroughly drained and exhausted by the time his shift had finally ended. _Desperate for a drink or a pill or a handjob or pretty much ANYTHING to take the edge off._

He mustered a small smile as he began to unlock the front door. At least he had hanging out with Gloria and Jane all weekend to look forward to.

"Hey ladies, Daddy's home!" he proclaimed somewhat ironically as he flung his keys onto the little hook by the door.

"Hi, Dad," a distant voice echoed from the center of the room. Jane was sitting curled up on the couch, reading a tattered old copy of _Moby Dick_. She turned slightly in her seat to shoot him a tiny smile over the back of the couch. "Rough day at work?"

"Ughhh, don't even get me started," he shrugged his jacket off and tossed it nonchalantly onto the make-shift coffee table . "If I never have to type up the phrase "juvenile offender" ever again, it'll be too soon." He cocked his head slightly as he paused to examine his daughter more closely. "Hey, that's new." He reached down to finger a lemon-lime firefly necklace gleaming brightly around her throat. "Get this at the mall today?"

Jane's mouth twitched slightly. "Yeah, Gloria got it for me. "

"She did, huh?" He grinned warmly at the revelation. "You two are regular ol' gal pals, huh?"

Before Jane could open her mouth to respond, a lilting voice echoed out to him from right outside the master bedroom. "Hiya, honey. You're home a little earlier than I expected."

Hopper spun around, eyebrows raising instantly at the sight of Gloria in a low-cut black dress and nylon stockings, her hair done up in a very elaborate chignon with the front curls hanging down by her cheeks, perfectly framing her diamond-shaped face.

"Hey, babydoll." His legs moved him towards her of their own accord, only stopping right in front of her so he could eye her thoroughly up-close. "You look _incredible_." He motioned with his fingers for her to twirl around, which she did, indulging him with a glimpse of her bare, porcelain back. "But what's the occasion?"

She bit her lip and shrugged. "Oh I don't know…I guess after last night and this morning, I just wanted to do something special for ya is all." She peeked up at him shyly through expertly curled lashes. He wrapped his meaty hands around her tiny waist then, drawing her closer and planting a series of tiny pecks on her pretty pink lips.

"Is that roast chicken I smell in the oven?" He managed to inquire in between kisses.

"Mmmhmm. With potatoes and carrots and French onion gravy, your favorite," she whispered back into his mouth.

Hopper groaned soft and low. "Just what I need after the day I had."

He put an arm around her and turned, catching sight of Jane on the couch staring at the pair of them stonily. Hopper's brows furrowed. _She typically wasn't so bothered whenever they'd act all 'lovey dovey' in front of her…_

"Come on, Jane." Gloria beckoned the younger girl off the couch. "Help me set the table so your Dad can come and eat. Poor thing must be _starving_." She turned to kiss him with a low moan then, and when they parted Hopper saw that Jane (who hadn't moved an inch off the sofa) was now clenching her book so tightly, he actually worried it might _rip_.

"Jane. _Now_." Gloria pointed sharply toward the kitchen. Though her expression didn't change a lick, Jane finally lowered her book slowly, swinging her legs down off the couch with a pair of loud _thuds_ as her feet hit the ground. Shooting one last glare at Gloria, she stomped her way to the kitchen without so much as a word to either of them.

"What's going on with her?" Hopper whispered concernedly in his girlfriend's ear. "You two have a blow-up or something? That why you bought her that necklace?"

"Oh no, no, no," Gloria waved him off assuredly. "She's just a little upset I wouldn't let her buy this fifty dollar mega-rocket for Mike today at the mall. Made her settle for something a little cheaper. Can't have her thinking she can go around breaking the rules whenever she wants, now can we?"

Hopper smirked and shook his head. "Kids, huh. Can't do a thing with 'em, no matter what you try."

"You're preaching to the choir, hon."

They made their way arm-in-arm to the kitchen then, Gloria ushering him to take his seat at the table as she went to pull the roast from the oven. Jane meanwhile was still setting the plates and silverware in the elaborate array Gloria had apparently taught her soon after she'd first moved in. He tried to catch the teenager's eyes several times, hoping for a smile, but her gaze remained resolutely on the table. _Unwilling to look at him._

He was about to crack a joke about "her time of the month", when he spotted Gloria approaching with an unopened bottle of _Sauvignon Blanc_ and a wine glass she'd dug out of God knew where.

"Figured we'd indulge a teensy bit tonight," she explained in a small voice as he stared at her with raised brows. " _Just one glass_. I doubt that'll set anybody over the edge."

But Hopper was unconvinced, narrowing eyes at her warily. "You're not going to get on my tail come Monday morning about drinking too much are you?" He muttered as soon as she began pouring his glass, hoping against hope Jane wasn't bothering to try and listen.

Gloria smiled, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek and whisper back, "I'm not that big of a hypocrite. Promise." She pulled back and winked, and Hopper in turn took the wineglass in hand and tilted it toward her with a sly grin.

"Here's to you, darlin'," he murmured at her throatily before taking a long, soothing sip.

***

For the most part dinner went smoothly, although it didn't take long for Hopper and Gloria to break the one-glass limit she'd initially set ("It IS Friday night, after all," he'd reasoned to her as he grabbed for the bottle upon downing his first glass). As the evening wore on he became vaguely aware that Jane was keeping _very_ quiet while he and Gloria ate and talked, stabbing at her chicken and potatoes moodily from time to time whenever they'd drink and laugh.

"Oh c'mon now s-sweetheart, don't be such a killjoy," Hopper slurred at the girl thickly, reaching over to ruffle her hair between his fingers but missing entirely, unwittingly ending up swatting her in the face.

"Ah she's just a typical moody teenager," Gloria chuckled and shook her head where she sat beside him, fixing Jane with a rooted stare. " _Nothing really special about that, now is there?_ "

If looks could kill, the pair of them would have been dead.

"I would like to propose a toast," Gloria piped up again suddenly, refilled wineglass raised high in-hand.

Hopper cocked his head where it lay dazed and dizzy in his hand. "To what?"

"To _you_ of course," she tipped the wineglass ever so slightly in his direction. "And to Jane," she shifted it over to tip it towards the teen still glowering daggers at her as well. "I've done a lot of nanny jobs in my life, but I've never felt so welcomed by a family before. Even during their little snits." She crinkled her nose slightly at Jane, whose death-grip on her fork and knife had turned her fingers stark white.

"Of course I never dated any of my employers before," the woman continued with a small shrug, making Hopper chortle stupidly. "It's just…really nice to feel like I'm part of a family again," she stared down at the tablecloth for a brief moment before raising her eyes back to him, lifting the glass.

"To the Hoppers."

She took a long slow sip, while he in turn could only sit there and stare before finally following suit, his drunken mind made up about something he couldn't remember the reasons for waffling about in the first place.  

There are some moments in life, some imprints you just can't ever forget, no matter how drunk and stupid and out of your mind you might have been at the time that you lived them. Hopper for example, though bewildered in retrospect at the foolishness of the decision, could remember quite clearly bounding into the bedroom and practically tearing his sock drawer apart in search of the ring box while Gloria cleaned up their meal. He could easily recall practically sprinting back into the kitchen, slurring out the words "I love you. You're the only woman for me. Marry me," as he awkwardly stumbled down on one knee in front of her. And he would never forget the sound of Gloria's shocked shriek, the rushed "Yes! Of course!" before throwing both arms around his neck as he somehow managed to yank himself back up off the ground.

As sure and as clear as each of those memories would remain 'til the day he died though, only _one_ was strong enough to make him sober the hell up immediately where he stood.

And that was the sight of an enraged Jane, fists clenched and nose bloody, screaming "NO!" at the top of her lungs before causing every last dish, wineglass, and piece of silverware on that table to crash into the wall across from them with a mere flick of the wrist.

Of course, maybe if he'd been a little less drunk, he would have noticed the glint of triumph that alighted in Gloria De Falco's eyes as the whole world came shattering down spectacularly around the three of them.  

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *George Takei voice* Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyy.


	13. In the Land of Gods and Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why hello there my devoted readers, here's a not-so-little Labor Day treat for ya. Definitely my favorite chapter to write so far; hope you guys enjoy it just as much :)

_They said there'll be snow at Christmas_

_They said there'd be peace on Earth_

_But instead it just kept on raining_

_A veil of tears for the Virgin Birth_

_I remember one Christmas Morning_

_A winter's light, and a distant choir_

_And the peal of a bell,_

_And that Christmas tree smell_

_And their eyes, full of tinsel and fire…_

 

 

A tiny spark of flame briefly illuminated the darkened kitchen as Hopper lit himself a Camel with a deep sigh. He indulged himself in a long drag before turning back to face his new fiance, currently sitting motionless in the corner, a glass of ginger ale clutched tightly in one hand, a violet-beaded rosary wrapped intricately over the other. She wasn't looking at him, she didn't seem to be looking at anything really. She was just staring off into space, musing to herself silently. _Quiet as the grave._

Hopper shook his head. He supposed he should be grateful Gloria wasn't freaking out, hadn't burst out of the cabin screaming bloody murder and running off to tell God only knew who what she'd just witnessed. Still, something about the blank look on her face disconcerted him greatly. Maybe she hadn't run away, but somehow it still felt to Hopper like she wasn't really "there" with him at all.

"So how much do you want to know?" Hopper finally mustered the will to breathe out at her after the fifth or sixth puff on his cigarette.

Silence for several long seconds. Then,

"Everything."

That only made Hopper sigh harder, burying his head in his hands and trying to sort out where the hell he should even start.

"This…this doesn't begin and end with Jane," he finally admitted softly, rubbing his eyeballs hard into his thumbs as he said it. "There's A LOT that went on here…in Hawkins I mean…before you showed up." He glanced back over at her then, wishing fervently she’d just look back at him. But Gloria remained stone-faced and motionless, eyes still heavy and focused on nothing in particular.

"Some of what I'm going to tell you, I’m not sure you'll be able to believe me, baby. You might even think I've gone crazy."

She took a long swig of her ginger ale then, taking her time to savor the taste of the bright amber liquid on her tongue before responding. "I've always known there's much more to reality than meets the eye, Jim.” Her tone as she said it was cavalier, almost proud even. "There's very little you could say, that I'm not open-minded enough to at least consider _possible_."

He nodded at her candor before allowing himself a deep breath. "Well then…I guess I should start around a year and a half ago. _When Will Byers went missing.._."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gloria leaned back in her chair as though bracing herself for a long story, even narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw to appear she was listening intently. But the words were little more than noise to her, really. A thick stream of babble she barely registered as her mind wandered farther and farther away from where she and Hopper sat awkwardly together in his cramped little kitchenette.

It wasn't _quite_ yet bearable for the young woman to fully process the calamity her deft manipulations had inspired in the Hopper household earlier that evening. She hadn't even been able to so much as glance at the ring wrapped tightly around her little finger now since Hopper had drunkenly shoved it at her nearly an hour and a half ago. And the sheer memory of just how shocked, hurt, and betrayed Jane had looked when her father started screaming at her mercilessly for her little after-dinner "outburst" was enough to spur a fresh wave of bile through Gloria's throat.

Shutting her eyes tight to try and press out the image of that venom-filled glare the teen had shot at her after being resigned back to her room for the rest of the evening, Gloria took several small breaths in quick succession, imperceptible to the man struggling to explain the unexplainable to the woman he loved on the other side of the room. It was hardly the first time she'd struggled to collect herself after a particularly strenuous con; she’d spent two whole days lying naked and motionless on a hotel floor after that particularly _nasty_ business back in L.A. (God only knew how much longer she would have stayed there too if D.P. hadn’t finally managed to track her down).

She suppressed a small sigh at the thought of D.P. In times like these he’d always counsel her to force her mind to redirect itself to something more tolerable, _soothing_ even. He’d paint lovely pictures in her head of the two of them shacking up in some cozy little bungalow off the coast of Honolulu when all was said and done. Maybe using whatever remained of the money they’d ~~conned~~ earned to start a family of their own, leaving all their transgressions of the last five years far behind them in the past, where they belonged.

But somehow none of those plans brought Gloria much comfort for very long.

No, ironically it was _to the past_ she often ended up clinging back onto whenever she needed a break from the existential horror show that was her life in the here and now. _Back to a time when she wasn't such a vile, manipulative person; someone who didn't so callously use people who put their trust in her to achieve her own ends, to fix her childhood mistakes._

D.P. would tell her she was simply retreating to what felt comfortable, _familiar_. But Gloria knew all too well, it was less about mere comfort and _all about_ reassurance.

_Reassurance that she wasn't always such a fucking monster…_

The fingers clutching the small, silver crucifix dangling at the end of her rosary where so white now, they were practically vampiric.

***

_A little girl, not much older than nine years old, with long, curly reddish-brown hair and plump, ruddy cheeks lays sleeping peacefully in bed, tucked under a sturdy pile of blankets and quilts to help stave off the unforgiving December air. A dark shadow passes over her bed, lingering over her unconscious form ever so briefly, before a large, goose-feather pillow is brought crashing down spectacularly onto her face with a loud 'thud'._

_"OW-W!" The girl bolts upright on the mattress, rubbing her head furiously from the impact with one hand, the other clearing several feathers shaken loose from the impact off of her cheeks and hair._

_"Francesca you gross turd, what the heck did you do that for???!" She blurts out crankily while fumbling for her glasses on the adjacent nightstand. Once she manages to affix them to her face, her sister, the spitting image of herself (minus a particularly pronounced birthmark on her lower right cheek) comes into focus at the edge of the girl's bed, bouncing frantically on the balls of her tiny feet._

_"Honestly only YOU could sleep through Santa himself landing right outside our front door!" She exclaims exasperatedly, shaking her head in disbelief._

_"W-what?" The girl can only blink somewhat stupidly at the statement, her half-asleep brain struggling to make sense of her sister's meaning._

_Francesca sighs overdramatically. "Honestly goombah, do I slur when I talk? It's_   _Santa! I just heard his sleigh landing down on the other side of the beach; we gotta hurry if we're gonna go catch him in time!"_

 _The girl just rolls her eyes and leans back down into her pillow. "Francesca we've been over this a bajillion times already:_ Santa isn't real _. We're too old to believe in stupid kid stuff like that anymore. Now go away and let me get back to sleep. Too early to open presents anyhow."_

_But the girl called Francesca is much too excited to be deterred. Throwing her sister's bedcovers clean off the mattress, she half-drags her twin into a standing position despite multiple furious protests._

_"Dummy, I just heard his sleigh land outside by the bluffs! There was this ginormous "boom" and everything! You would have heard him too if you didn't snore louder than a dump truck," she added with a derisive sneer.  "Now hurry up before we miss him!" She cries as she yanks her twin furiously toward the door._

_"Wait wait wait!" The other girl manages to rip her arm free from her sister's vice-like grip. "Francesca, it's freakin' raining cats and dogs out there! I'm not going out with you on some wild goose chase just to catch a cold. You probably just heard the neighbor's car backing up or something—"_

_"Nahuh. Every other family on the block went on vacation this year; we're the only ones still around for half a mile!"_

_Throwing her hands in the air defeatedly, the girl heaves an exasperated sigh before moving silently toward her bureau, fumbling inside for several seconds before yanking out a small, disc-shaped inhaler._

_"_ Oh come on _: you don't need that thing to meet Santa for crissakes! Whadya think seeing Rudolph's nose light up's gonna make your holey heart explode?"_

_Her twin's eyes narrow at her sharply as she takes a long puff off of the plastic green device. "It's bad enough you're dragging me out in the pouring rain, Fran. I'm not gonna risk passing out on the beach because you're still too childish to tell the difference between dreams and reality. Besides, what does Daddy always say?"_

_"Better safe than sorry," Francesca mocks her as the words echo out of them both at the exact same time. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we please_ go now _? Before we miss the big guy?! I wanna ask him how his reindeer learned to fly."_

_Her sister can only sigh in defeat. "Yeah okay. Just lemme grab our coats."_

***

"…So I played the only card I had left. Figured after all the trouble the slimy shit had gone to trying to track the poor girl down, he'd be too gung ho putting her back in his little cage to worry much about the rest of us. I knew it was a shitty thing to do though, don't think it didn't kill me to make that kinda deal.” Hopper shrugged bitterly, squelching the last bit of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray with a pointed _thud_. "The only defense I have is…I was just _that desperate_ at the time. I didn't know what else to do to save me and Joyce's skins. Or the other kids. _But I never planned on just walking away and leaving her to rot,_ that's something you can trust."

Gloria bowed her head, trying to reassure herself that a truly callous woman would find Hopper’s attempts to justify himself to her hysterical given the ironic set of circumstances.

"That must have been really hard on you Jim, being put in that kind of position, I mean." She couldn’t help but frown sympathetically, even as she continued dodging his gaze. " _All those lives in your hands_ …everybody depending on you to make the right choice, do whatever you have to do to make sure they all walk away safe and sound. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t have made the same deal, if they were being honest.”

Hopper chuckled appreciatively at that, but shook his head just the same. “Ya know, I tried to tell myself that too for a long while there. Doesn’t change the fact that I ended up scarring an innocent little girl for life, just the same.”

"Maybe,” Gloria acquiesced with a sharp breath through her nose. “Still though,” (she just couldn’t help herself, could she?), “when you look back on it, even now, could you _honestly_ have brought yourself to do anything differently?”

_She felt rather than saw his eyes boring into her from across the room._

“I mean _could you…really_?”

***

 _In the cold light of a freshly dawned Christmas morning,_ _a pair of yellow slicker-clad figures race along the snow-covered shore of a thoroughly frost-over_ _East End_ _beach. Not a single lamp or Christmas tree bulb could be found lit up in any of the adjoining houses, their neighbors ostensibly snow-birding to_ _Florida_ _or the_ _Carolinas_ _to escape the brutal winter. Their family might have too, were the muggy Southern air not terrible for the younger twin's condition. The girl in question huffs on her inhaler impatiently as their bolt through the bone-chilling rain begins to take her breath away. She struggles to peer through the thick sheen of water smattering at her glasses to the only source of light to be found on the entire beach: a bright orange glow, rising and falling in time with the unforgiving wind, like the cerulean waves beside them surely would were they not currently trapped in an icy winter’s grave._

 _"F-Frannie?" The girl stops dead in her tracks, her breath becoming even more labored as her mind starts making sense of what the glowing ember light could_ only _actually be. "I don't think that's Santa's sleigh…"_

_Her sister pauses only a moment to shoot her a quizzical look before bolting full throttle toward the source of the open blaze._

_"Frannie, wait!" The girl takes one last puff on her inhaler before struggling to run after her sister. "It's too dangerous, we need to go get Mom and Dad!"_

_But her pleas fall on deaf ears, as they tended to do when it came to Francesca_ _. Of the two of them, she'd always been the Brave, Reckless twin, the one who never saw the need for any sort of adult supervision, could never be bothered to think through her decisions before making them. Whenever she wanted to do something,_ she just went ahead and did it, _consequences or potential punishments be damned._

 _Of course, of the two of them, she'd had far less reason to fear the world, to want to shy away from anything remotely threatening or scary._ She, after all, hadn't been born with a messed-up heart.

_The closer the sisters draw to the source of the mysterious pyre, it becomes inescapably clear that what they're looking at is indeed no fabled sleigh. What it actually IS though, is a question of some debate._

_To the girl it looks like some kind of giant, deformed egg, if eggs came in iridescent blue metal and had strange, flickering lights outlining the front and back sides. She pauses to rub her glasses on the lapel of her slicker before sticking them back on hurriedly, peering intently through the rapidly re-blurring lenses to try and piece together what it was she was actually seeing. But the dual impact of the slowly dying blaze and the relentless stream of water from above is causing the twisted, burnt up interior of, well, whatever it was they were looking at, to deteriorate rapidly,_ as though the egg were hatching in on itself.

_"What do you think it is?!" Francesca shouts out among the intermingling din of rain and crackling flame._

_"I…I don't know," her sister responds bewilderedly. "I think we should go back now."_

_Francesca waves her off impatiently. "Don't be such a coward. I wanna go see what it is!"_

_"Ugh, you are going to be the death of me someday." The girl flings her arms in the air helplessly before trailing after her sister (once again) in defeat._

_As they edge mere feet away now from the strange metallic structure, the twins notice something stirring behind the charred-off pieces rapidly piling up at its center, almost like an erratic thrashing back and forth, back and forth, and the girl is reminded of a fish being made to suffocate on dry land._

_"Sis," Francesca stops in her tracks abruptly, her expression instantly turning from one of extreme curiosity to abject fear,_ "what the hell is that?"

_The girl can only tremble where she stands for several long seconds before responding. "Francesca let's go back home. I don't like this at all."_

_At long last, her twin acquiesces. "Yeah, yeah okay." Francesca reaches for her sister's hand, and as one they turn to make their way back toward the other end of the beach._

And that's when the godawful screeching starts.

_Whatever it was flailing around amidst the debris, it was screaming bloody murder now. A sound the likes of which the girls could only compare to someone lashing out in horrible, horrible pain._

_"Oh, God."_

_They both turn around at the same time. For a long moment a silent debate ensues between them as to what their next move should be._ That is, until something long, spindly and grey starts extending itself from within the charred blue debris…probing out with several unnaturally thin digits toward them…clutching frantically at the snow-covered sand…trying to pull itself free from the rapidly-collapsing pod, but lacking the strength.

_The girl swallows down the massive cloud of fear threatening to engulf her whole body before dashing straight for the pod._

_"Are you crazy???!" Her sister yells after her in frantic shock. "Get back here!!!"_

_But the girl is not deterred, taking six deep puffs off her inhaler in quick succession to stave off the thick billows of smoke currently wafting right into her face. Crawling down on hand and knee into the muddied snow-sand muck, she reaches out to take the silvery hand in hers, wincing slightly as it latches onto her tightly for dear_ _life._

_"Francesca just shut up and help me pull!" She yells back at her sister, who hesitates only but a moment before sprinting her way over, wrapping both arms tightly around the girl's middle and tugging back as hard as what little strength her nine-year-old body will allow._

_It takes a good two minutes before the poor creature is finally pulled free from the rapidly deteriorating pod. Through the haze of mist and smoke, the girl can barely make out the prone form of whatever it is she's just barely managed to save from the jaws of death. All she manages to catch before passing out spectacularly on the snow-buried sand is a pair of pitch-black eyes the size of tea saucers staring up at her innocuously…_

_"HELP! PLEASE! MOM! DAD! SOMEBODY! HELLLLLLLLLP!"_

_For a few long moments the girl can feel herself slipping further into unconscious, her sister's frenzied screams for their parents growing steadily fainter and fainter. But suddenly, there's a strange prodding feeling all over her chest. It's soft at first, but grows stronger and sharper as it seems to zero in on her ribs._ Right above her heart.

 _Suddenly, it feels as if the fire engulfing the pod is now instead consuming_ her _, a wildfire blazing hot and electric inside her very chest. The feeling grows so intense her eyes pop open fully now,_ and the face that peers back mere inches from her own is unlike any she's ever seen before.

 _At any other time in her life, the girl would have screamed her head off where she lay at the sight of such a bewildering creature. But somehow, in this moment, she isn't in the least bit afraid. Somehow, she knows exactly what her new friend has done to repay her for saving their life…_ How they've healed her.

_So she smiles up into that moon-shaped, pearl gray face instead, knowing from that moment on, her life will never be the same._

_It isn't until a good three minutes later when her sister tugs frantically on her arm and points toward the now not-so-still ocean waves, that she notices a trio of identical blue pods have broken through the thick sheen of ice encrusting the sea…_

***

"…So I took her home with me. What else could I do? The town had been crawling with government goons ever since the incident at the school. I have it on good authority that they'd been spying on the Wheelers, the Byers—pretty much everyone involved. I had to keep the kid safe."

"Of course you did," Gloria replied with a gentle chuckle, the warmth and affection in her tone now not needing to be faked. "That's what makes you, _you_ Jim.” She still couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye after she said it, her gaze transfixed instead on the fizzy liquid occupying her glass. But somehow she felt the need to finish the thought anyway. “ _You protect_."

Hopper cleared his throat loudly before continuing, not wanting to risk the sudden lump he felt bubbling within to get the better of him.

"Things with the two of us were pretty rocky at first," he began again finally, "but they got a lot better as time went on. Until she found out about the deal I made with Brenner," he spat the last name out bitterly, like poison on his tongue. "Not really sure how…she wouldn't tell me how he got into contact with her again. Some weird telepathy thing I guess. But she wanted nothing to do with me from there on out. Can't say I honestly blame her. That's why she was staying with Joyce and Will when you and I first got together. It was a really hard time for me then. After losing one daughter already..." There was no escaping the hitch in his voice here, but Gloria mercifully pretended not to notice.

"Honestly, if you hadn't shown up in my life when you did baby, I don't know where I'd be right now. Probably lying in a ditch somewhere, sloshed out of my mind. Or overdosed."

He chuckled lightly at that, but Gloria's countenance of stone had fallen entirely now, and for a brief moment it appeared to Hopper as if she was suppressing the urge to let out a small sob. She drowned it out quickly though by knocking down at least half her glass of ginger ale, taking a long moment to wipe the excess off her lips before responding.

"I'm just happy I could be there for you, Jim.” Her eyes remained far from his own as she said it, but for once that night Hopper couldn’t question the reasons why. “The way you’ve been for me." She managed a small smile for him then, one he couldn’t help but reciprocate. "I'm even happier you and Jane were able to patch things up."

Hopper's grin ebbed slightly. "I've tried my best to make up for it all, ya know? Still trying, to be honest. But I don't think she's fully forgiven me. Not really sure how much more I can do about that. I'd like to give her a normal childhood…but that's not really possible for her, now is it?"

"Ah well," Gloria began again with a small twitch of her upper lip, "normalcy is a pretty subjective concept when you really think about it."

***

 _The icy gray seascape has transformed itself into a rich swath of endless teal waves, their slow but steady sloshing back and forth across the horizon the first herald of Spring for the sleepy little beach town. The girl, no longer bespectacled, inhaler nowhere to be found, prances utterly carefree and happy down the length of the wind-swept shore, her twin struggling to keep up with_ her _now._

_By the time Francesca manages to catch up mid-way across the bay, the girl has fished out a neon green crystal from deep within her backside pocket, holding it out to her sister expectantly. Francesca shoots her an exasperated look before pricking her thumb on a long, lone shard dead-center in the rock's underbelly, wincing slightly before moving to smear the two or three droplets that have emerged along the length of its thorny surface with her other hand._

_Kissing the smoother, upper edge of the now softly gleaming gemstone for good luck, the girl flings her jewel into the waiting waves with a wild laugh. She and her sister have only a minute to stare before_ _four midnight_ _blue pods begin emerging from the hidden depths of the gently frothing sea, moving as one to where the twins stand waiting expectantly at the edge of the shore. Each opening up to reveal a tiny grey figure, none much taller than either of the twins, all raising their right arms high in greeting, just as the girls had taught them during their rendezvous the week prior…_

***

"Fair point," Hopper conceded with a small shrug, pausing to suck in a long puff on his Camel here. "Still though…I bet when _you_ were Jane's age, your idea of normal didn't consist of mind-bending powers and aliens crawling all over your town, now did it?"

Gloria bit her lower lip hard, determined not to laugh.

***

_In the heart of a lush, summer-kissed forest canopy, the twins and their alien visitors, whom the girl has affectionately dubbed her "Dear Little Friends" or "D.L.Fs" for short ("It's from my favorite book!" she insists with a whine as Francesca pulls a face) sit huddled together in a rickety, half broken-down tree house. One creature, the one who had saved the younger twin months ago, takes her tiny pale hand in their slate grey one, tracing a pattern on her palm with a long, probing digit._

_The girl shivers slightly as a series of shiny green marks begin to manifest on her skin, but relaxes as they start to fade just as quickly as they appear. Her D.L.F continues to sketch the same series of images over and over—a mosaic of different patterns, each coalescing into a set of strange, flowy shapes that vaguely remind the girl of her mother's collection of shawls._

_She unravels the pink, daisy-covered one currently wrapped around her head, keeping her thick, curly locks off the base of her sweaty neck, and offers it to her friend, who looks between her and the thin, whispy material several times over as if unsure what to make of it. The girl merely grins and throws it stark over their head, giggling mischievously along with her sister as they simply stand there, blinking confusedly, looking to their fellows to make sense of the child's bizarre behavior. Eventually they all begin emitting a high-pitched gurgling sound, an attempted mimic of their hosts' laughter, which ultimately just throws the twins into an even stronger fit of hysterics._

***

"Suppose I owe you an apology too," Hopper admitted ruefully after several more seconds of silence had passed between them. "I know I should have told you all this from the get-go. Let you know what you might be in for if you got involved with me. I guess I was just…scared."

Gloria sighed, rubbing her temples hard between her thumb and forefinger. "You've nothing to apologize for," she finally muttered quietly, taking him so off-guard he nearly fell off his stool. "You were just trying to protect your daughter," she elaborated with a shrug; a small, sad smile alighting her face now. "You did what any good father would do."

***

 _The girl, several inches taller and somewhat curvier now, sits pensively in an almost-empty waiting room. Her fingers flex themselves tensely around the mahogany armrests of her leather-bound chair, her feet dangling over the seat, bashing into each other now and again as she swings them out in wide circles through the air._ Trying and failing to distract herself from her own nerves.

_A steady hand rests on her shoulder then, putting an immediate end to her go-to nervous habits._

_"You doing alright there, princess?" a middle-aged man with patches of grey flecked sporadically through his auburn hair winks at her slyly from the seat adjacent to hers. "You're looking kinda twitchy."_

_The girl smiles up at him a little sheepishly at first, fully intending to wave off her anxiety as nothing more than pre-surgery jitters. Before she can even stop herself however, she finds herself blurting out in a single breath, "Are you sure I really have to do this?" She turns full body to him now, clasping his much older hand in her own, practically pleading. "I mean, it's been almost two years, Dad. I haven't had a single symptom. Heck, I don't think I've gotten so much as a cold since." She pauses to take a short breath before launching back into it, "And the x-rays all came back negative; we've had three different doctors swear up and down the hole is gone. Are you sure this is really necessary?"_

_The man hesitates for a long moment, considering her words (and, to the girl's mind, probably agreeing with them) but ultimately can only frown and shake his head. "I know you must be really anxious right now, sweetheart." He pauses to swallow thickly here. "I am too, to be honest." His hazel gaze, so like hers and her sister's, wavers slightly from the girl's now. "Your mother and I we…_ we just want to make sure _. I know the D.L.Fs mean well," the man lowers his voice so much that the girl must lean forward in her seat to hear him. "But can we REALLY be certain that…whatever it is they did to your heart…isn't going to end up coming with some unfortunate side-effects? You know I'd never forgive myself if we didn't at least look into it, baby," he rubs his thumb soothingly over the back of her small, pale hand. "Better safe than sorry, I always say. And the people here can make sure your problems really_ _ARE_ _gone for good; what a major load off all their minds that'll be, don't ya think?"_

_"Yeah, and I'm sure that's not gonna come with some kind of string attached," the girl retorts bitterly._

_Her father's mouth forms into a hard line. "Your mother and I already promised you kids up and down we wouldn't tell them where they're hiding. And so far they've all been nothing but respectful of our choice to maintain their privacy._ They only want to help us, baby _; since when are you so mistrustful of people?"_

 _Before the girl can respond, the sound of elevator doors dinging open in the hall across from theirs catches her and her father both off-guard. Two people quickly emerge from within the dimly-lit carriage; the first, a woman in her late thirties with long, curly jet black hair, struts out from between the doors with all the air of someone who owns whatever building they walk into. Her eyes immediately seek out the girl's father, to whom she bestows a small, reassuring wink, before turning towards the girl herself, who jumps immediately out of her seat in response._ Like an exceptionally well-trained dog.

_Following close behind is another woman, this one a good decade older, with her hair drawn up in a severe, strawberry-blonde bun, and a lab coat perched around her shoulders so unnaturally white, the girl is certain it must have been soaking in bleach the night before. Sitting perfectly straight atop her left lapel  is a small rectangular badge bearing the woman's picture, the name "A.J. Honeycutt" typed out in big, bold letters underneath._

_"Hiya, hon," the younger woman grins down affectionately at the girl before moving to grip both shoulders between talon-like fingers. "I’d like you to meet the surgeon who's gonna be operating on your heart today. Say hello to Dr. Honeycutt.” She turns the girl sharply toward the other woman, whose pea-green eyes survey her own much darker sandalwood ones through thick, coke-bottle glasses._

_"Hello there, dear. I'm so happy we finally have the opportunity to speak in person." A.J. Honeycutt tilts herself ever-so-slightly towards the girl, giving the impression that she's attempting to speak with her on the same level, yet still somehow managing to effectively_ talk down to her _. "I'd imagine you must have been very hesitant about this procedure at first, I'm so so happy your Mom and Dad were able to set your mind at ease," she preens at her with a wide, presumptuous smile. The girl can only swallow thickly in response, eyes flickering briefly towards the elevator doors behind them, trying to weigh the chances of bolting to them fast enough before Dr. Honeycutt could catch her._

 _"What an_ honor _it is for my team and I to be operating on such an extraordinary little girl today. As you can imagine, we rarely get the opportunity to work with people who have been, well,_ touched _by the kind of greatness you have." Honeycutt pats her right shoulder gently as though to emphasize the point, and the girl finds her cheeks flushing fire-engine red as she tries to suppress a surprised grin despite herself. The woman quickly clocks the change in demeanor, however, and wastes no time taking further advantage of the tactic that sparked it._

_"My, what a lovely rosary you're wearing." Long, spindly fingers take it upon themselves to start probing underneath the girl's collar, coiling up a long string of glassy violet beads within their grasp. "A family heirloom…perhaps?" She raises a knowing eyebrow at the girl, who can only smile and nod in affirmation. "Honestly I feel like I know so much about you already; your mother speaks of little else." She chuckles affectedly at that, while the raven-haired woman in turn titters proudly where she stands beside the girl._

_"Hey, you'd talk about your kid all the time too, if she was as brave and strong as mine is," the girl's mother coos proudly, threading a gentle hand through her daughter's long, unruly locks. An act that actually manages to sooth the child's ever-increasing nerves a little bit._ If only a bit.

 _"Anyway," Honeycutt's eyes flicker to her Rolex briefly before turning back to the girl. "My team and I have a_ teensy _bit of prep work we need to take care of with you before we can actually proceed with the surgery. If you're ready to get started…?" She crooks a pale eyebrow at her questioningly now._

 _The child inhales sharply before offering a silent nod, stuffing down every impulse to run as fast and far away from the woman as her legs could possibly carry her. Dr. Honeycutt meanwhile just grins like the cat who ate the canary before beckoning the girl to follow her back towards the elevator carriage. The girl steals one last look back to her mother and father, taking what few precious seconds she has left before the doors close in on her to memorize their faces._ Just in case.

***

"Honestly, after the first year, I never imagined anything could be worse than that demogorgon. Never met the one that took Will in person but, after seeing some of the pictures he drew, God, I was looking over my shoulder every time I went anywhere alone for three months. _If I'd only known then what was coming down the pike._ I don't even wanna think about what woulda become of this town if Jane hadn't managed to get that damn gate closed. Will's brain was damn near close to being turned to fucking jelly by that… _thing_ …that _Mindflayer_. Would've only been a matter of time before it started infecting everybody else. Would've been the stuff your worst nightmares are made of."

Gloria nodded slowly, painfully aware of how closely Hopper was studying her now, trying to gauge her reaction to this supposed revelation. So she shifted herself abruptly in her seat, as if suddenly anxious and uncomfortable.

"You all must have been so terrified." She paused to take a long draft out of her glass, taking her time swallowing as though combating something frothy and writhing in the pit of her throat.  

***

_The girl is told to count down from ten to zero in her head, but falls into unconsciousness on the cold, black operating table before making it all the way through seven…_

***

Hopper breathed hard through his nose into his hands. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in," he searched Gloria's face pleadingly here, trying to find any sign of acceptance, or anything definable at all, really. " _But it's true. All of it. I swear._ "

***

 _Alice Honeycutt's gloved hands are drenched in crimson blood as she begins shouting her head off at each of her subordinates, all crowding around the body of the girl now in a panicked frenzy._ Something's gone horribly wrong; _Honeycutt's made one cut too far, ventured much deeper than she was meant to have. The girl shouldn't be able to see this, shouldn't be able to see_ herself _lying still and breathless and_ dead _with her chest cracked open on the operating table._ But she can. And she is.

***

Gloria chuckled lightly. "Honestly Jim…I've always believed that if we ever found a way to peel back all the hidden layers of existence, to truly pierce every veil that's out there to be pierced…we'd find A LOT of different things waiting for us on the other side. It just takes an open mind."

Hopper grinned at her warmly. "Clearly an open mind isn't something you struggle with." He practically cooed it at her, feeling something akin to a sense of relief for the first time all evening. "Must be the philosophy student in ya, huh? Guess I got lucky in that regard at least."

***

_The girl can barely make heads or tails of what she's experiencing now. Everything around her is crystalline color and light…even her. All physical limitations have suddenly vanished; there's no longer need to wait for any nerve impulses to tell her feet to walk in order to move. Her form simply glimmers through (was it air? She felt no urge to breathe) various pockets of space at the speed of a single thought, her consciousness streaming here, there, anywhere she wants to go. She doesn't even need to turn around to know there are Others gathering around her now; doesn't need to tilt herself up to stare in their colossal faces, to count the innumerable traces and patterns on their mosaic-like wings._

_And their voices, softer than the fluttering of a butterfly's wings, ring inside her like the beating of her own heart would, had she still been in need of one._

_The awe she feels now transcends any sense of fear._ You do not fear what you are intimately part of. _And the girl is no longer a singularity, no longer just an "I"; no, she encompasses so much more now._

She's ever-present, in everything and everyone around her, all at once _. And something deep inside her knows, this is always how she was meant to be._

***

"Well, an open mind's carried me everywhere I've been thus far," she breathed it out to him with eyes tightly shut, images of flowing wings and fiery limbs and gazes brighter than the sun burning as clearly behind her lids as they did all those years ago when Alice Honeycutt killed her for the very first time. "Guess it'll come pretty handy around here, huh?"

Something twitched sharply in Hopper's jaw before he replied, "It's funny, you know...for the longest time I never bothered wondering about stuff like that. Always thought there was enough down here to be getting on with. What good would it do worrying about anything else? But the more stuff I see…the more I'm beginning to think 'down here' isn't as separate from everything else as I thought. Ya know?"

He turned back to her with a small chuckle, but she was frowning somewhat now, her glass nearly slipping between slightly fidgeting fingers.

"Have you seen anything else since Jane closed the gate? Anything 'otherworldy', I mean?"

Hopper swallowed down the urge to gulp, images of the night he'd had the run-in with that strange Shadow-child-thingy out in the woods last June flooding his brain. A part of him wanted to tell her the truth, to indulge himself in her worried stare when he described how every nerve in his body had felt inflamed all at once. To watch her jaw grow slack when he described the swirling vortex of color and light that had engulfed him (if only for a few moments).

But the words turned to ash on his tongue. It was one thing to paint her a picture of things that _had been_ , assuring her whatever remnants lingered (including a certain temperamental, superpowered step-daughter) could easily be handled. _But was he reasonably sure Gloria would still feel safe here in Hawkins if she knew the alien threat hadn't been entirely extinguished?_ Just because she'd accepted the truth of what he'd told her, didn't mean she'd EVER want to stick around to witness any of it.

And they'd come too far for him to lose her now. He couldn't. He _wouldn't._

"No," The lie was out of his mouth before he could even reason with himself against it. "No I…I'm pretty sure that's all done with. The town may never stop feeling certain side-effects of course, but, I don't think we have to worry about something mean with pointy teeth showing up at our doorstep anytime soon."

Gloria regarded him with narrowed eyes for several more seconds before seemingly accepting his answer. "And…what about Jane?" She began again slowly. _Cautiously._

"What about her?"

"How do you plan on keeping her powers under control?" She folded her arms as she said it, drawing herself up to her fullest height she could manage sitting down. "I mean, as we saw from tonight's little 'outburst', it doesn't exactly take a lot to set her off, now does it?"

Hopper sighed. "Honestly I guess I kinda hoped as time went on, she'd wanna stop using them all on her own. But the more I try to suppress her powers the more they just keep growing. That's what Owens over at the Lab says, anyhow."

"But the Lab closed down, yes?" Gloria arranged her features carefully now, to give off the air of someone trying and failing to keep up with the world around them. "That's what Toby Maitland said. Mentioned something about a radiation leak in the town's water supply. Supposedly killed a girl even. So the government shut it down."

Hopper smirked at that, but there was no mirth to be found in it. "That's the 'official' story, yeah," he scratched at his beard thoughtfully before continuing on, "but the truth is…the government has too much of a stake in the work being done there to shut it down completely. A good eighty percent of the experiments they'd been working on have been dismantled for the time being but…when it comes to the stuff affecting Hawkins…the after-effects of everything that got left behind when the Gate was shut… well, those are still going strong. The crew there work really hard making sure everyone else around town thinks it's abandoned. You'll never see a single light on in there or anybody coming in and out of the building if you drive past it on the highway. _But that's only cause they've moved underground._ Far away from the prying eyes of the townies and overeager journalists who ruined them in the first place."

Gloria licked her lips thoughtfully, considering how best to crack this particular nut.

"Have you been back there since they pretended to close it down?"

He tensed immediately at that, his posture straightening stiffer than a board in his chair. Gloria knew to immediately backtrack.

"It's okay if you don't want to get into it," she assured him quickly with a small shrug. "Forget I even said anything, I was just—"

"No, no, it's okay." He began again with a small breath. "A little after Jane turned fourteen…she started acting funny whenever I'd bring her out in public. Really intense headaches, confusion. She'd tell me she'd hear noises in her head…could read how the people around her were feeling. So I got back in touch with Owens; every so often he calls her in to run some tests, but so far they've all been inconclusive. At least that's what he says." Hopper pauses to roll his eyes dramatically here. "Joyce thinks there may be something he's not telling us. She'd been bringing Jane in for the last three months on my behalf; you can imagine how thrilled Jonathan was to find out they hadn't shut the program down completely after all." He shook his head back and forth rather solemnly at that. "Wish I could say I'm just as pissed, but, honestly, it kinda makes me feel better knowing there's someone with resources out there at least _trying_ to help Jane. Tonight was pretty bad but, God forbid the day comes where even the slightest provocation sets her powers off completely, Owens may be the only shot I have getting her back under control."

At last, at long long last, Gloria shifted in her seat to look him dead in the eye here. _It was now or never_.

***

 _The serenity is entirely gone now. No more endless cascade of color and light; the voices as soft and flittery as a butterfly's wings, no longer within earshot. Instead, there's nothing but shouting now, a cacophony of accusations intermingled with various obscenities as the girl's parents demand to understand how a "perfectly safe" procedure could end up going so wrong. The girl just sits silently between them on her hospital bed, seemingly staring at nothing in particular._ Thinking.

_"Tony, Carlotta, please," A.J. Honeycutt raises her hands placatingly in front of her, desperate to quell the onslaught of unbridled rage being hurtled her way. "I cannot apologize to you all enough for what happened during the procedure…mistakes were certainly made…I'm afraid that in our search for a tangible, technologically-based source to your daughter's cure, some massive oversteps were taken that absolutely shouldn't have been, I make no bones about this," the doctor concedes with a dramatic shake of the head, though it doesn't escape the girl's notice that she didn't outright confess to it being HER having made the nigh-fatal error in judgment._

_"My team, my superiors and myself are all deeply embarrassed, I can assure you. I have it on very good authority that the Board of Directors are more than willing to reimburse your family for any emotional trauma you may be experiencing—"_

_"A bribe? Seriously?!" Carlotta stares at the older woman dumbfounded. "You people really think you can_ fucking flatline our daughter _on the operating table and then just throw money at us to go away?! You must be out of your goddamn mind, lady!"_

 _Honeycutt sighs. "I understand this must be a very emotionally charged time for you all," she begins in a much smaller voice now, rubbing her temples vigorously between her thumb and forefinger. "And I don't blame you in the least for being as upset as you are. Having said all that…I don't think you_ quite _understand the implications of what has happened here. Your daughter was dead--"_

_"Yeah, all thanks to you, Doc."_

_Honeycutt swallows thickly before pressing forward, **"** And by all accounts and purposes, it should have taken an extensive amount of effort on the part of myself and my team to revive her, if she could have even been revived through natural means at all. But her heart it, it did something that shouldn't even be theoretically _possible _._ The artery that got knicked…actually healed itself!" She shakes her head as she says it, as if her mind still stubbornly refuses to allow her to fully believe it, despite having witnessed it with her own two eyes. _"In all my years at_ _Camp_ _Hero_ _, I've never seen_ anything _like this happen before. I've studied extraterrestrial manipulation of human_ _DNA_ _certainly,_ but this _? This is on a whole other level than anything any of us here have ever been trained for."_

_"And your point is?"_

_Honeycutt clasps her hands together almost pleadingly. "My point is, Tony, that the implications for what this could potentially mean for the future of the human race are_ astronomical _. These extraterrestrials, whatever they might be, wherever they may come from, clearly possess the ability to make us resistant to fatality. And all without prolonged, technological intervention, since we certainly didn't find what we were looking for during surgery—"_

_"Yeah, too bad it took you butchering our daughter's heart like deli meat to come to that conclusion, huh?"_

_"—But there's absolutely something going on here worth exploring," Honeycutt manages to cap off the point through clenched teeth. "The connection between your daughter and these Greys…my God, it could very well be the first steps toward eventually curing every disease known to man!_ Just stop and think about what that really means for a second, I beg of you _."_

 _Honeycutt steadies her gaze on the girl now, who's nervously tugging at a loose thread on her bed sheets and trying hard not to get sucked into those coke-bottle glasses. But the good doctor knows to appeal directly to_ her _now. "My dear, you have the opportunity to do something_ nobody _in the history of humanity has ever been able to do before. Because of you, we actually have a chance to put a stopper in our own mortality. Just think of the implications! Countless diseases, everything from end stage cerebral cancer to simple hypertension, we could wipe them all away in an instant if merely given the knowledge! If we can find a way to…_ work _, closely with these creatures, find a way to replicate whatever power or technology makes this possible, eventually no one on Earth would ever get sick ever again. Isn't that something you'd like to be a part of, dear? Knowing all those lives could be saved, all thanks to you. Why, I don't think there's a man, woman, or child alive who wouldn't come to know your name, given enough time."_

_The girl muses to herself silently for several more seconds before finally turning to look the older woman in the eyes. "Will you hurt them?" she finally asks with a small hitch in her voice._

_Honeycutt's eyes narrow ever-so-slightly at that. "I'm afraid I don't follow you, my dear," she responds with arms folded and both eyebrows raised._

_"My friends," the girl qualifies more strongly this time. "Will what you're planning on doing cause them harm in any way?"_

_Honeycutt's countenance immediately softens, face arranging itself into a reassuring moon, almost echoing the child's concern even._ Almost. _"Oh my dear child…believe me I understand your hesitation, I truly do. Human beings don't exactly have the best track record dealing with things we don't understand, and those in my field are just as guilty of that as anyone, if not even more so at times." She rolls her eyes rather dramatically here, and the girl can't help but smile a bit even in spite of herself._

 _"But one thing I can assure you about my team and I, dear:_ we aren't merely interested in discovery for discovery's sake. _We are,_ genuinely, _interested in establishing a mutually beneficial bond with these entities. A relationship, if you will, by which a  free exchange of knowledge between our two races can be facilitated. What could_ possibly _be gained by going out of our way to jeopardize any of that? By harming the only links we have to life outside our little blue rock?" Honeycutt dissolves into a small fit of laughter here, waving off the very notion as if it were ludicrous to even entertain. The girl finds herself joining in, her guard down almost entirely now, even as her parents watch on warily._

 _"The thing is though," Honeycutt begins again, voice grave and entirely serious now. "In order for such a feat to be accomplished, we need to be able to understand this._ To understand them _. And that comes with direct communication, with study.. Not like animals in a cage mind you." She quickly interjects before the girl's countenance could waver once more. "We merely want to get to know them, observe their language, their habits, their ways of living and being. And of course strive to understand whatever advancements they may possess, that could be used to better the state of our very troubled world. But all of that, I am convinced, begins and ends with you, dear."_

 _She points a long bony finger at the girl here, who can only stare at the older woman transfixed now._ Like a moth to a flame.

_"Your mother told me how this all began…how you nearly gave your life to save one of them a couple of years back. Clearly, such an act is as emotionally significant to their kind as it is to us." Honeycutt dares to sidle up to the right-hand side of the mattress now, so close the girl can feel her sterile breath washing over her face, like a gust of icy wind._

_"The relationship that you and your family have managed to forge with them since, it's established a certain level of trust, one that's not easily replicated certainly, but it can be a start._ If you could simply convince them of our intentions _, of what can be gained by working_ with _us, rather than remaining in the shadows… I guarantee you the Project will be able to offer them a far greater degree of protection and, dare I say,_ comfort _, then they're currently able to procure all on their own.” Honeycutt bends down so far that she and the girl are completely eye-level now. "Can you, in all sincerity, tell me that isn't something you want, my dear?"_

 _The girl swallows hard. Before she can deign to give a response, however, her father appears at her side, placing a protective hand on her shoulder and staring Honeycutt down as though she were something particularly nasty and slimy living underneath his shoe. "I think we've had enough of your attempts to play God for now, Doctor," he sneers out at her curtly. "_ Please leave _. Our daughter has endured an awful lot of trauma today and can use some rest. Which I'd imagine you should know better than anyone."_

_Honeycutt's entire countenance falls deflatedly at that, but she nods in seeming acceptance. Shrugging her lab coat around herself even more tightly, the doctor turns to make her way out of the room, but hesitates just outside the open door. "You think about what I've said," she shoots back over her shoulder at the girl before finally leaving._

_Luckily for her, it would be pretty much all the girl would think about for the next three years._

***

"I want you to take me there." She stated it simply, _mundanely_ even, as if her request was no more unusual than a woman asking her husband to drive her over to the supermarket.

Hopper sat in stunned silence for several long seconds. "Wait—what?"

Gloria set her glass down on the counter now, making her way slowly over to his barstool and wrapping her arms tenderly around his neck. "I want to understand what's going on with Jane," she elaborated insistently. "I want someone who knows how this all started to explain it to me."

Hopper eyed her confusingly. "I already told you baby, the feds wanted a superweapon they could use to spy on the Ruskies. They spoon-fed Terry Ives and a bunch of other women some really weird drugs and started scrambling around with their brains; it's really not more complicated than that."

But Gloria just shook her head. "If there were other women…that means there were other children too, yes?" She inquired with a crooked-up brow.

Hopper just shrugged. He always figured there were probably other children like Jane, other products of Brenner's insane god-complex running around the world somewhere. But as far as he knew there were none currently being held at the Lab (surely Owens would have whipped them out when the demodogs overran the facility last year?). So what was the point of losing sleep over it?

"And if that's the case," Gloria continued, whetting her lips thoughtfully, "Maybe this…Owens?" she briefly acted unsure of the name for good measure. "Maybe he has a good idea what we can expect as Jane grows older. Just how powerful she'll probably become, when all is said and done. Surely it'd be safer to know now, to prepare ourselves for the inevitable, before any long-term plans are made."

Hopper began scratching at his beard hard. "I suppose you'd want to know what you'd be getting yourself into by joining our little freak show, huh?" He meant for Gloria to take it as a joke, yet somehow he couldn't bring himself to inject any mirth into the statement. As far as he was concerned, her evasive behavior all night coupled with this particular request were all the confirmation he needed that his worst fears were coming to fruition. It was only a matter of time now before she decided this was all too much for her to handle after all, before she walked away from him and Jane and never looked back.

_How silly of him to think it could possibly end any other way._

It was undoubtedly this growing sense of dread that spurred him (rather irrationally) to add, "Guess I can't really blame you, babydoll. Never made any sense for someone as young and pretty as you to saddle yourself with a grumpy, out-of-shape old cop anyway. A superpowered science experiment of a step-daughter must be the cherry on top of the proverbial shit-cake as far as you're concerned, am I right?"

Gloria's eyes closed of their own volition at his last little barb, and she moved quickly to cup his cheeks reassuringly in her hands. "Jim, honey, that's not…that's not what I'm saying. _At all_." She calmed herself with a long intake of air before continuing, just enough time to gather her thoughts. _To make it convincing._ "I just… _I care a lot about you and Jane_. But it's been a long time since I've had any sort of family of my own. I just want to make sure…I know what I'm doing. That I can give you and Jane exactly what you need."

Hopper bowed his head at that, sincerely hoping the sentiment was true, but continued shifting uncomfortably under her gaze nonetheless. "Gloria, I just don't know…"

"I need to be able to understand this," she tilted his chin up so that her eyes could bore directly into his, leaving him with nowhere to hide, “if I'm going to be part of your lives."

Hopper nodded, caving into her in spite of himself. _Knowing he'd lose her any other way._

"You're right, okay. Especially now." He nodded towards his mother's diamond sitting heavy and gleaming on her left ring finger. Gloria looked down at it strangely, almost as if she'd actually forgotten it had ever been there, before looking back up at him, something distant and sad welling up in her eyes now.

"Listen, Jim," she began in a small voice, once again not looking at him, but clutching at his shoulders tightly. "You um…you were really kinda smashed before…during dinner I mean. I uh…I'd understand completely if you feel any sort of regret now. If you want to take this back…" She began twisting at the shiny golden band around her finger uncertainly.

Hopper stared at her blankly, knowing damn full well the only logical thing to do would be to take her up on her offer. To explain that yes, it had all been one _massive, drunken mistake_ , that it would have been too soon even outside of all this madness with Jane and the Upside Down to be getting _fucking engaged_. But _especially_ now, after everything he had shared with her tonight, how could it _possibly_ be a good idea to rush things between them so haphazardly?

_Of course, that would have necessitated Hopper being remotely capable of anything resembling reasonability just then._

Instead, he just found himself getting agitated and snarky with her once more. "Look, babydoll, _you don't owe me anything_. Or Jane either for that matter." It was his turn to avoid looking _Gloria_ in the eyes at all costs now. "If you want to just break things off, before we get in any deeper, I understand, I really do. There's no point beating around the bush if that's what you really want." He tried to shrug nonchalantly at that, but fooled absolutely no one, including himself.

Gloria sighed exasperatedly. "Dammit Jim, I only meant—"

"Do you _not_ want to marry me? Because if you don't you can just say so, don't worry about hurting my feelings."

She hesitated for a long moment to eye him deadly seriously before responding. "I have no interest in keeping you trapped in something you only _think_ you want, Jim," her lower lip quivered slightly as she said it, making him feel nasty and horrible all over again. "I'm merely asking for you to be absolutely honest with yourself. Do you _really_ want to get married right now? I mean… _really really_?"

For the second time that night, Hopper knew _exactly_ how he should respond, but beyond all rhyme and reason, felt utterly compelled to do the exact opposite. Taking her left hand gently in his, he cradled it softly before bringing it up to his dry, chapped lips, kissing the finger that bore his mother's ring, muffledly whispering into her tiny pale palm, “I do."

_For the second time that day, Gloria found herself breathless and shell-shocked by the same revelation._

"Y-you're serious, aren't you?" Her voice was throaty and hitching, entirely uncontrolled, as she half-choked out the question. "You… _you honest to God want to marry me?_

He leaned down to place a soft peck on her pale pink lips, pulling away only slightly before whispering once more, "I do."

Gloria simply nodded before moving to bury her face in his chest. "I do too," she replied with a soft kiss to the spot right above his heart. And for once in a very long time, it was a sentiment she knew beyond all shadow of doubt that she actually meant.

***

_The blustery autumn wind scatters the pale pink sand into an angry, broiling sea. The on again, off again twinkling of fireflies can be made out here and there over the thick patches of saltbush, faint at first but growing clearer and more frequent with the gradually setting sun._

_Strolling at a snail's pace along a tiny cut-out path of mostly-eroded gravel is a buxom teenage girl, her hair tied back in an enormous flowery shawl, rose-tinted sunglasses (far too big for her face) dangling precariously off her nose. In her right hand, she strokes something back and forth,_ back and forth _, obsessively between her fingers, and it isn't until her slick leather cowgirl boots reach the muddied brown sand that she brings her fist eye-level to consider the treasure within._

 _With a long, slow breath, she eventually tosses the tiny, blood-smeared stone into the_ _Atlantic_ _, and just like clockwork, four egg-shaped, iridescent pods ascend from the murky depths within a matter of mere minutes._

_As those the girl still likes to think of as her "D.L.Fs" wade through the mercurially clashing waves, the girl extends an open hand to her favorite; Kiolar, she's come to call them, the closest mimic her vocal chords can manage of the name they've tried giving her time and time again. With a gentle, reassuring stroke along the gruff, leathery skin stretched thinly along their palm, the girl begins to draw a circle, two sets of stick-limbs and the best outline of a torso she can manage to attach them all together. Kiolar fixes her with a curious stare of those fathomless black eyes, but the girl simply nods softly before pointing back towards the way she came._

_Making their way down the long gravel path now is a middle-aged woman sporting a strawberry-blonde beehive and a man, early twenties, with russet skin and wavy raven hair worn down to his shoulders. They smile brightly at the girl and her friends as they slowly inch closer, and the girl grins back, blissfully unaware it's the beginning of the end as she delivers her friends into the hands of monsters._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp…I promised y'all some answers now didn't I? You guys should have LOTS AND LOTS to chew on 'til the next chapter, and there are plenty more revelations still to come (rubs hands together gleefully).
> 
> I really, REALLY hope the rapid switching back and forth between Gloria's memories and her present conversation with Hopper were easy enough to follow. Tried to make it as clear-cut as possible without stamping "THIS IS A FLASHBACK" over every other section *smh*
> 
> Shoutouts to anyone who knows what novel Gloria took the nickname "D.L.F" from (if you met me in real life for even ten minutes you'd understand why I couldn't resist). 
> 
> Also, to anyone interested, I've put together an aesthetics board AND music playlist as companion pieces to the fic. You guys should totally go check 'em out when you have the chance!  
> \--> https://www.pinterest.com/victoriael89/what-lies-beneath/?eq=what%20lies&etslf=3687  
> \--> https://open.spotify.com/user/n11lr9pqs1mi4zxsaf3c4mbka/playlist/0x8z6aICNS6uj51ESLJiZC  
> 


	14. The Man from Montauk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there faithful readers…just in time for Thanksgiving, here's a SUPER DUPER long installment of WLB for y'all to feast upon. Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

***

 _The office is a cluttered mess. A haphazard jumble of crumpled-up paper, scribbled-on manilla folders and half-chewed pencils thrown every which way across the painfully askew mahogany desk. The walls are covered top to bottom with_ even more _files, not a one set completely straight in its place, several affixed together carelessly with tape or thumbtacks. Even the computer currently resting on a small fold-out table on the other end of the room can't escape its owners tendency towards chaos, its bulky black mouse dangling precariously off the edge by a single thin wire._

 _In the midst of all this havoc waits a girl, freshly fourteen, blue gypsy skirt draping thick cotton cascades just below her knee, long auburn curls swept up and away from her face by a terracotta shawl. Her hazel eyes are fixed pointedly at the door across from her, long, glued-on nails scratching restlessly at the hairs of her left arm as she waits with increasing impatience for her hosts to_ finally _arrive._

_At long, long last, the door swings open with a loud, creaky screech, and in walks A.J. Honeycutt with the most handsome-looking man the girl has ever laid eyes on in her (relatively short) life._

_Sleek black hair with messy, devil-may-care bangs falling ever-so-softly in the man's eyes, stubborn jawline that went on and on_ and on _for days, coppery-colored skin, and the eyes to match. It's all the girl can do to peel her gaze_ off of _him, but his are glued to a painfully thick binder clutched precariously in his hands._

_"Good morning, dear."_

_The girl is snapped out of her pubescent mooning by the sound of Alice Honeycutt's tinny voice chirping at her from the other side of the desk now._

_"How_ wonderful _to see you again after so long. You've certainly developed into quite the lovely young lady since last we met."_

 _The girl smirks at that, knowing instinctively that Honeycutt's referring to her drastic change in weight. She really ought to thank little Susie Sackman back at_ _East Hampton_ _High properly one of these days…_

_"I really must apologize for all the mess."_

_Honeycutt waves a dismissive hand across the proverbial rat's maze of an office, but not before shooting a dark glare surreptitiously at her colleague, still far too engrossed in whatever was contained in that binder to even pay a lick of notice._

_"Apparently our janitorial staff went on a collective strike this week. Good help can be_ soooo _very hard to find, even around these parts, I'm afraid."_

_Honeycutt titters affectedly at her own joke. The girl chuckles once out of sheer politeness before pressing onto the subject at hand._

_"I was told you were bringing me in today for some kind of interview?" She arches her eyebrow quizzically on the last word. "I already went over the most significant milestones of the past three years in our last correspondence, Doctor. I'm not really sure what else needs to be said," the girl caps off by throwing her arms in the air bewilderedly._

_"Ah, yes," Honeycutt claps her own hands together thoughtfully here._

_"Well my dear…as I'm sure you can relate to from your_ own _experiences with, our um,_ 'special guests' _," she elects on the phase tactfully, "the first step in forming_ any _relationship with an extraterrestrial being is establishing some agreed-upon form of communication. A shared language, if you will. You, my dear, have—quite remarkably may I say—been able to sustain successful interactions with these creatures for nearly five whole years. That's_ a very impressive feat for _someone your age. Wouldn't you say so Daniel?_ Daniel?! _"_

_Honeycutt turns to stare pointedly at the man now distractedly hunched over his monitor. After a moment it finally seems to dawn on Daniel that the good doctor was calling his name, causing him to straighten up immediately and nod twice for good measure._

_"Oh yes. Certainly. Quite remarkable." He agrees in the most disinterested tone imaginable before moving to pin some random piece of paper from his binder onto the rightmost corner of the wall. The girl's brows burrow together at this, and Honeycutt looks like she's repressing the urge to roll her eyes heavily behind her colleague's back before continuing._

_"As such, my staff and I feel it best to…_ expound upon _, rather than attempt to supersede, whatever methods you and the Greys have employed to commune with one another over these last several years. To that end, I've enlisted one of our top Extraterrestrial Communication Liaisons, Mr. Porter here."_

_She jerks her head toward her subordinate now, currently typing away on the keyboard he's dragged halfway off the bottom left-hand corner of the fold-out (apparently a more convenient endeavor than wheeling over the swivel chair mere feet from him)._

_"I've charged him to work_ very closely _with you and your friends over the next several months, dear. It is my hope that, bu having an expert in information exchange analyzing your everyday interactions, my team will get a better feel for how we ought to be getting our_ own _interests across. While striving to service theirs as well, of course."_

_She giggles in that annoyingly high falsetto again. The girl's eyes flash briefly back to Porter, still bent full-body over his computer, acting completely oblivious to either her or Honeycutt's presence in his office._

_"Today's session will be nothing more than a simple intake of information, really. Mr. Porter here will ask you a few questions about your daily interactions with the aliens, how you manage to get certain concepts across, how they do the same with you, that sort of thing. I am afraid it may take bit of a while but…I think you'll find it's going to make the next step in this process all the more easier, my dear."_

_She flashes her unnaturally white teeth at the girl now, who can only bring herself to nod deferentially in in return._

_"I'll leave you two to it, then." Honeycutt turns on her heel sharply and marches out of the room without another word. Porter doesn't seem to take notice though, either that his superior has left the room or that the girl is still present with him. Too hyperfocused on whatever is so important he must document it all immediately or risk losing it forever._

_It's another five minutes of listening to the man's incessant typing before the girl finally snaps._

_Click. Clack. Click click clack._

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

_Click. Clack. Click click clack clack._

_Tap. Tap. Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap._

Finally _the man turns around to find her staring at him unblinkingly, arms folded tightly, impeccably polished mary-janes percussing ceaselessly against the slick linoleum floor._

_His eyebrows knit together slightly as he observes the girl, really taking her in for the first time that morning, before making his way over to the desk and taking the chair directly across from her own._

_"Do forgive me for keeping you waiting."_

_It somehow feels like more of a_ non-apology _than a genuine one. Perhaps because of the way the man bears his teeth at her when he smiles._

 _"You'd be shocked at all the paperwork that goes into our activities here. It's_ madness _."_

_"Yes, I can see that." Her flicker over the chaos strewn all over the desk before returning to gaze at him warily. Porter chuckles mirthlessly at her observation before grabbing a random file by the girl's right hand. It occurs to her that despite having no discernible system of organization whatsoever, he probably knows where everything in this room currently is. His own barely held-together order amongst the chaos._

_"So then," Porter begins again after grabbing a pen from somewhere within the mayhem."As the good doctor already explained, I have a number of questions about your relationship with these…Greys." He lingers on the word slightly as if it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Almost like it's beneath him, even. Or perhaps_ them _._

 _"Alice— eh,_ Dr. Honeycutt _," he corrects himself quickly with a small shake of the head. "She informed me that you and your family have been in regular contact with these creatures for the past five years."_

_He pauses here to look up at her again. The girl resists the urge to sigh at the obvious._

_"That is correct," she affirms simply as Porter begins scribbling away once again inside his file._

_"And yet your parents had no desire to take part in this venture?"_

_His eyebrows arch questioningly, betraying a hint of something akin to disappointment. It occurs to the girl that he'd probably much rather be dealing with_ them right now _than_ her _._

_She breathes in sharply before answering._

_"No," the girl admits with a small shrug. "They uh…they haven't been able to look past the uh…_ incident _(it's the only tame word she can think of to describe it at the moment), from three years ago. Left a bad taste in their mouths. I'm afraid it's clouded their judgment when it comes to_ _Camp_ _Hero_ _. And my sister's as well."_

_She can't find it within herself to repress the large sigh that escapes her now. Porter either barely notices or simply doesn't care._

_"Yes, well. How noble of you to put any hard feelings aside for the greater good." He bares his teeth even more now in a pale attempt at a smile that feels about as genuine to the girl as crocodile tears._

_"I am_ rather _surprised they permitted you to reach out to us all on your own though, given how terribly young you are." The corners of his mouth twitch slightly in distaste as he peers down at her now. The girl instinctively folds her arms even more tightly around herself, mouth forming into a hard, thin line before she replies._

 _"Well, given all I've accomplished at such a young age, I suppose they feel I'm mature enough to make my own decisions._ Whether they agree with them or not _."_

_She raises her head proudly so that she's completely eye-level with him. Porter's forehead crinkles  surprisedly at her candor, but he doesn't respond, opting instead to change the subject altogether._

_"And do you feel you have the strongest bond with the extraterrestrials out of anyone in your family? Being that you personally rescued one?"_

_"Well, my sister helped a little. Might explain why they like having her around so much too." She admitted with a fond smile."Really, it's more that Francesca and I are more_ comfortable _with them around. Not that my parents aren't_ friendly _to the D.L.F.s per se, but—"_

_"D.L.F.s?" He interrupts her with his pen stopped mid-scribble on his notepad._

_"My pet name for them. Stands for 'Dear Little Friends'," she explains shortly._

_"Dear Little Friends?" Porter pulls the same incredulous face as Francesca repeating it back to her. Somehow it's far less endearing on him._

_"It's from The Chronicles of Narnia. I thought it was cute." The girl shrugs drolly._

_Porter doesn't even try to hide the snort in his voice now. "What were 'Oompa Loompas' not adorable enough for you?"_

_The girl's face morphs into a petulant scowl. "I was_ nine _. I had to come up with_ something _for them. 'The Greys' sounds too simplistic."_

 _"And I suppose simply calling them 'the aliens' is  beneath your_ teenage bohemian creative prowess _."_

_He gestures to her get-up while eying her up and down with a small sneer. The color drains completely from the girls face as her eyes narrow themselves into tiny slits._

_"Monikers make life easier on anyone. 'Daniel Porter', for instance."_

_The hubristic smirk is wiped instantly from the older man's face, his expression quickly forming into a mask of barely-concealed contempt._

_"Ex…cuse me?" is all he can utter at her in a breathy whisper._

_"Oh I do believe you heard me just fine, Sir." She bares her own teeth back at him in triumph here._

_'Porter' clears his throat softly before uttering, "What makes you think it's a moniker?"_

_The girl snorts, knowing she's managed to get under his skin, and cocks her head slightly to the right, appraisingly._

_"For one thing, you respond to it about as reflexively as Kiolar does when I call them_ that _," she finally admits with a cavalier shrug. "For another, you seem to be in the habit of accidentally signing your real name at the bottom of a good third of your memos,_ Mr. Portales _."_

_The girl nods toward the mess strewn every which way on the desk. The man's eyes narrow sharply, her ability to decipher his seemingly inconstrutable chicken scratch apparently taking him off guard._

_"I'm guessing the higher ups at this place put the heat on you to make the name change, huh?" She proffers wryly. "Am I next? I mean, my name's not exactly the most_ waspy _sounding either. Am I going to have to present myself to the world as Zelda Von Hasselstrau once all our little 'ventures' here finally come to light?"_

_There's laughter in her voice as she says it, but the man across from her is gripping the desk so hard, his knuckles look like pebbles stretched painfully against his taut skin._

_"With all due respect,_ Miss _," He bites out the last word as if it pains him to dignify her with such an address. "We're not here to discuss me or my employers."_

_"No. Apparently we're here for you to condescend to me over my age. Despite the fact that I'm already lightyears ahead of you in the 'communications liason' department. Kinda, sorta, super duper ironic, don't ya think?" She finishes with a mocking smirk._

_Porter just laughs out loud at that before rolling his eyes at the girl long-sufferingly._

_"My my my, Honeycutt didn't tell me what a little_ spitfire _I had on my hands here." He licks his bottom lip thoughtfully before continuing. "The way she went on and on_ and on _about what a complete sweetheart you were, I never imagined the smarmy little priss that'd me waiting for me today."_

 _That wolfish grin returns to envelope the lower half of his face, but never quite reaches all the way up to his eyes."Guess ol'_ _Alice_ _isn't  as good a judge of character as she thinks she is, after all."_

 _"Apparently not, if she made_ you _of all people my handler,_ Dante _."_

 _The man's gaze sharpens fiercely at her at the sound of the name. "I_ prefer _, Mr. Porter,_ please _."_

 _But the girl just shakes her head, the shit-eating grin planted firmly on_ her _face now._

 _"Ohhhh, but we're supposed to be all about truth and integrity around here, aren't we? That's what the good doctor says, anyhow. I'd hate to think you and I at least couldn't live up to that standard over a simple_ name _." She tuts sharply three times here while shaking her head in faux-disappointment._

_The older man's hands harden into fists atop his lap, his eyes, wide and angry, not leaving her face now for an instant._

_"You can play whatever games you want with me, Sweetheart," he breathes out in a furious whisper. "But trust me:_ you're in way over your head _. "_

 _"We'll compromise then." The girl continues as though she hadn't heard the last statement. "I'll give you a nickname, since you went out of your way to point out just how_ adorable _you think I am for doing that." She taps her chin several times thoughtfully here._

_"You can be…the 'D.P.' to my 'D.L.F.s.'," she finally decides with a wicked twinkle in those sparkly sandalwood eyes. "Has the added bonus of me not having to waste any more time addressing you than humanly necessary."_

_She leans back in her seat, arms crossed above her head as if thoroughly bored with having to deal with him now._

_D.P. can only let out a bewildered chortle in response, shaking his head at the girl disbelievingly, as if he'd never met anybody quite like her before in his twenty-something life._

_"Fine then,_ Sweets _," he bites back at her with that wolfish grin fixed in place. "If that's how you want it, we'll play it your way."_

***

Gloria shut her eyes tightly, cradling her forehead against the kitchen wall so hard she thought she very well might have heard it begin to crack beneath her as the man on the other end of the phone line continued grilling her endlessly.  

"Hon, how many times do I have to tell you, _I've got this_. I went over the plan with the kid three times last night. _It's going to work._ You just gotta have some faith."

She rolled her eyes as a fresh set of patronizing blather began broadcasting in her ears now.

"Yes, D.P., I realize we'll only have a ten minute window. _Recall I pulled this off back in_ _El Paso_ _with only six_."

More chatter coming through the receiver end. Then,

"Yeah, I'm anxious to get this over with too. _I miss you_. A lot. But just think, love: after today, we're officially halfway there. And don't forget the kids and I covered most of the forest already; _my instincts tell me_ it won't be that much longer at all before you're booking us tickets for sunny New Mexico, honey."

Laughter filled her ears now. _A breezy, hope-filled sound_. Gloria found herself smiling wide into the speaker in spite of herself.

"Yeah D.P., I love you too."

She hung up the phone quickly then, before another word could be said. Rubbing her forehead slightly as she moved away from the headset, Gloria turned to find Jane spying on her from behind the kitchen counter, the tray of lemonade and cookies she'd set out for the teen's Party Council Meeting held limply in her hands.

"Hey there, kiddo." Gloria offered the teen a shy smile, all the while folding her arms over herself tightly. "Why aren't you outside with the others?"

Jane ignored the question, contemplating the older woman silently for several long seconds before finally commenting.

"Your boyfriend's a real mouthbreather _bastard_ , you know that?"

Gloria's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the remark, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards a bit even in spite of herself.

"But I guess since _you're_ such a slimy little coward, it's no wonder you let him boss you around so much, huh?"

Gloria's face fell at that, but she didn't dispute the charge. Burrowing her forehead once more between her fingers, she calmed herself with several deep intakes of air before retorting,

"Well if you play your cards right you'll be rid of me sooner rather than later. Makes sticking to the plan today all the more important."

She quirked her brow significantly at that. Jane's expression only grew more hardened and stony in response.

"Baby?!" Hopper wandered into the kitchen behind them just then, scratching his head bewilderedly. "Have you seen my navy jacket? Can't find it _anywhere_."

Gloria's eyes lingerd on Jane's a moment longer before she turned to her fiancé with as sweet a smile as she could muster.

"It's in the wash, darling. But I hung up your red one in the coat closet. It's better suited for today anyway. Weather guy said it's gonna be another hot one."

Hopper grinned at her appreciatively. "That's my girl."

He reached over to plant a tender kiss on her forehead while stroking her hair affectionately. His eyes fell on Jane then, still standing stock still as a statue, and it didn't take long for him to pick up on the lingering tension in the air.  

"Everything okay here, ladies?"

Gloria shrugged softly in response, nuzzling herself into his chest as though suddenly world-weary. Jane just grit her teeth at the theatrics and nodded her head sharply in response.

"Fine," was all she could find in herself to reply just then. "Perfectly fine."

The teen stomped off to the back door without another word, slamming it as hard behind her as her inflamed mind could manage without tearing it clean from the hinges.

Hopper shifted where he stood uncomfortably. "She still giving you a hard time, huh?"

Gloria reached over to stroke his chin with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, hon. She's been a good little girl about not doing anything _nasty_ to me with those special 'gifts' of hers. Besides, _it's perfectly normal_ for any child to feel threatened when a parent gets engaged, even a super-powered one. Hell, you should've seen what _I_ was like when Ma remarried; Francesca had to drag my drunken ass outta the reception hall _by my hair_. Trust me: Jane's a proper little angel in comparison."

Hopper's forehead crinkled in on itself at the revelation. "You never told me your parents were divorced."

Gloria swallowed thickly, offering him a small shrug in response but nothing more before making her way over to the linen closet to fish out his jacket.

He sighed watching her lithe little form walk away from him then.  It _always_ seemed that just when he was about to get somewhere when it came to Gloria's past—learning more about her childhood, her family, what really made her _tick_ —she completely pulled away from him. He suppose he shouldn't have let it bother him so much, what with all the secrets he'd been keeping from _her_ all of a week ago.

Still, Joyce's warnings about rushing into marriage with someone he only knew so well kept ringing through his head almost painfully, try as he may to push them out…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane forced a smile onto her face she did _not_ feel in the least upon exiting the kitchen, trudging her way through the small clearing Hopper had chainsawed out for her once upon a time as a make-shift backyard within the endless wood.

Seated all together at a large, plastic picnic table underneath a (thankfully) shady oak tree were the rest of Jane's party. Mike was hard at work assembling the new Delta II model she'd gifted him mere days before, Will kindly reading off the instructions to the raven-haired boy as he focused all his concentration into fusing two particularly stubborn pieces of the rocket's nose cone together.

He briefly looked up from the especially intense effort to smile at her warmly, the memory of the night she'd surprised him with it (and the enthusiastic make-out session that had ensued) still wonderfully fresh in both the lovebirds' minds.

Sat on the other side of the table were Dustin and Lucas, apparently arguing vigorously about who would end up winning in a fight between Batman or Wolverine ("But Batman's got way more gadgets!"; "Dude, Wolverine would _tear him up_!"). Lying stretched out on the grass beside their picnic bench was a thoroughly bored Max, flicking her switchblade open and closed over and over again and looking as though her mind were really a million miles away from all of them.

"Max, you're a knife expert. Don't you think Wolverine would tear the living shit out of Batman if given the chance?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded at her boyfriend absentmindedly, eyes never leaving her blade. Lucas rolled his eyes heavily at her before resuming his _extremely important_ quarrel with Dustin.

As she made her way over to the rest of the group, Jane found herself staring at the other girl to an almost _rude_ degree. It'd become harder and harder for her to ignore just how sharply Max's mood and personality had begun to shift over the past several months. Though initially reluctant to grow close to the other girl, one of the first things Jane had realized she actually _liked_ when finally caving into the boys' requests to hang out with her, was the sense that what you saw with Max was exactly what you got. The red-head's determination to say whatever was on her mind, her refusal to back down when treated unfairly (or, God forbid, one of her friends were) made perfect sense in light of the stubborn, no-nonsense sort of energy that typically projected from her. 

It had been refreshing to Jane, in a way, channeling the feelings of a girl _so very different_ from herself, one who wasn't as concerned with blending in with everybody else, who felt free to be who she was, screw any mouthbreather who didn't like it.

But then at some point over the summer Max's aura had changed almost entirely. No longer strong and proud and sure of herself at all, she felt to Jane now like a dying flower wilting into herself more and more every day. Unless of course she happened to be feeling really nervous about something (which seemed to be half the time lately), in which case she'd act super jumpy and refuse to join in activities she once _loved_ (her decision to blow off the boy's annual camping trip after campaigning for MONTHS to get an invite was especially surprising). It didn't feel like good ol' Mad Max one bit.  

As could be expected, the sudden switch in personality had ended up resulting in the girl becoming more and more withdrawn from the rest of their little group as the weeks and months went on. Jane couldn't recall having seen her for the last four Council Meetings or any of the past week's D&D sessions, and even now she got the sense the girl had only shown up to hang out with them today because Lucas had begged her to.

Dustin and Mike had confessed to Jane one afternoon a while back that they were both really worried her step-brother Billy might've been messing with her again somehow. Jane had only come face-to-face with the bastard once last May when a still-normal Max had invited the gang over to her house for a pool party, and he seemed all too happy to steer clear of her and the others the entire time…

No, something about the Billy theory just hadn't felt right to Jane. She knew all too well from her years at the Lab with Papa what living under threat from someone who cared for you (or rather, _should have_ ) would feel like. And this wasn't it.  

If anything, this honestly felt more to her like being in the _Upside Down_. The constant…uncertainty. Not being able to really understand what's going on around you, and terrified at any moment something _much bigger_ and _much stronger_ than you is on the attack.  

But what could possibly be causing Max to feel such a way? And why did she refuse to tell anybody (even Lucas) what the heck was going on with her?

"Sweet! I love Gloria's oatmeal cookies!" Will leaned all the way over Mike to grab at the tray Jane set down on the edge of the picnic table, accidentally sending a good third of the partially-assembled rocket splattering spectacularly across the grass.

"DU-UDE!" Mike yelled at him furiously, hurriedly bending down to pick up all the scattered pieces.  "That took me all morning to put together!"

"Chill out Mike, it was just an accident."

"Dammit Will!"

Jane shook her head with a small smile as she watched the boys squabble. She heard Max let out a small snort of her own and turned around again to catch her eye. It'd been a long while since she'd seen (and especially, _felt_ ) anything resembling cheerfulness from the other girl.    

Max offered up a small smile in return before turning her attentions firmly back onto her knife, something distant and uncertain clouding those baby blue eyes now.

Somehow Jane found herself unable to rear in her overwhelming bout of curiosity just then.

"Hey, Max?" She approached the other girl slowly, a little bit _shyly_ even. Max jumped up slightly at the sound of her name, but quickly shook it off before finally lifting up her gaze.

"Hey Elev—I mean Jane. Sorry it's kinda hard for me to keep up. All your name changes lately have been giving me whiplash."

 She chuckled a little nervously at that. Jane just smiled pleasantly while mulling over how best to ask what was currently on her mind.

"How, uh," she paused again for a moment, trying to come up with the right words. "How's your family been lately?"

Max folded her arms in on herself, looking guarded and wary the way she did whenever any of them tried to figure out what was going on with her lately.

"Fine, I guess," she offered with a small shrug. "Why do you suddenly care about my family?"

Jane played it off coolly. "Your brother he…he's not being mean to you again, is he?"

Before Max could answer, Lucas snickered at the table beside her.

"Nahuh. Mad Max over here scared _the living shit_ outta that Grade A douchebag last year. He can barely look her in the eye anymore. Isn't that right, babe?"

He leaned down to wrap an arm proudly around her shoulders. Max beamed up at him warmly, even if it _was_ a little strained.  

"Yeah, Billy uh, Billy hasn't been giving me any trouble at all lately, actually. If anything he's been going out of his way to be polite." She smirked a little bemusedly at the thought before continuing. "A little annoying, to be honest, but not a bad change, if you ask me."

Jane nodded slowly. There was only one question left to ask, one she was reluctant to put out there given the number of other people's problems she was already preoccupied with trying to juggle. But one she simply couldn't stop herself from blurting out all the same.

"I uh…I don't suppose anything _weird's_ been happening with you, lately?"

The color quickly drained out of Max's face. "Weird?"

"Yeah just…anything strange and unusual. Like from before I closed the Gate."

Max swallowed hard. "Well um, I haven't _seen_ anything  strange since that day the weird crystal thingy we found nearly made your head combust—"

Jane heard Will accidentally send another half or the rocket careening off the table.

"Jesus, Will!"

"Yeah that thing was really weird," Dustin piped up just then with a curious scratch of his head. "I rifled through my geology textbook for hours trying to find something like it. Never seen a rock with all those pointy little shards." He tapped one of his upper right incisors to emphasize the point."Has anybody else seen more of those things around town? Besides the other one Nancy and Steve found?"

Mike shrugged, focus still firmly on reattaching all the bits of fallen rocket laying scattered and disjointed on the picnic table. Lucas and Max both shook their heads no, but Max's eyes were now firmly on her lap, and if the crashing waves of energy now pulsing through Jane's head meant anything, she was fighting with herself furiously about whether to tell them something important.

Jane contemplated what she could possibly say to get the red-head to open up, but Will cleared his throat loudly with an inquiry of his own. "What DID Steve do with his anyway?"

"Buried it in the woods and pretended like he never saw it. Big-haired idiot," Dustin snorted affectionately. "You still have yours, don't you Max? You gonna carve it into a necklace or something?"

The red-head's eyes widened slightly at that before blinking themselves back to normal.

"I um…I threw mine in O'Bannon Ravine about a month and a half ago, to be honest."

"Why'd you do that?" Lucas eyed her uncertainly. "Hopper said to hide it, not get rid of it."

Max shrugged. "I don't know. Just didn't feel like holding onto it anymore."

Jane and Will shot each other a worried look.

"Do you think the Mindflayer left them here?" Mike finally piped up thoughtfully while super gluing the Delta's nozzle to its finn. "Like maybe digging all those roots throughout the town did something crazy to the ecosystem, left some weird alien debris behind—"

" _No_."

It was out of Jane's mouth before she even had time to wrestle with the guilt of lying to him. _She really was getting more and more like Gloria all the time, wasn't she?_

"Then where the heck could they have come from? And why'd they start showing up now?"

Mike's eyes were firmly on her now, as were the rest of the Party's, save Will's, which were darting between Mike, Max, and the cabin's kitchen window as he nibbled uncomfortably on a particularly large oatmeal cookie. 

Jane gulped slightly, but then simply shrugged the inquiry off.

"It um…it didn't _feel_ like it was something that came from the Mindflayer. At least…it didn't _make_ them."

Across from where she stood, Will was barely breathing where he sat.

"Then _where_ did it feel like they came from?" Max's voice rang out to her sharply from behind.

Jane whipped around to face her now. The low, shaky hum that had been surrounding Max as of late was replaced by something else entirely now. Something _loud_ and intense and frightening. And _desperate._

Jane eyed her uncertainly.

"I…I don't know."

"But you must have _some_ idea, right?" Max sprang up from her spot on the grass now, completely eye-level with the other girl. "Or a theory at least about where they came from? _What made them._ Why they're so funny-looking and why strange things seem to happen around them—"

"Everything alright here, kids?"

For once Jane was _enormously_ relieved Gloria De Falco had come swooping in to interrupt her life.

Max swallowed thickly as the nanny eyed her curiously, plunking herself down moodily onto the picnic bench in response, eyes distant and strange once more.

"Hi Ms. De Falco!" Dustin was on his feet in front of the older woman in half a second, Lucas not that far behind.

"Hey there, boys." Gloria's sandalwood eyes flashed quickly between them, Max and Jane before seemingly deciding everything was alright. "Have you _fine_ young gentlemen been having a nice summer?"

"I am now." Dustin winked at her shamelessly, flashing his teeth with a shameless purr.

"Oh God, drool harder on her shoes, why don't ya Dustin?"

Gloria snorted a tiny bit at that, peering over at the red-head currently rolling her eyes pointedly behind Dustin's back.

"You remind me a lot of my sister, Maxine. _She didn't believe in filters either_."

She flashed a charming wink at the girl (who only shrugged boredly in return) before turning to grin fondly down at the overeager boy bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"I hope the Maitland twins aren't giving you lot any trouble now that I'm not around to reign them in. I know they can be _quite_ the handful at times, the little monsters." She found herself staring off somewhat wistfully at the mention of them.

"Ehhhh, nothing's worse than my little sister. _Trust me_." Lucas asserted with an insistent nod. "Besides, they've been pretty subdued since you left, actually. I don't think they like the new girl their Mom and Dad got for 'em. She's kinda mean to them, to be honest with you. Paulie told me she hits them with a hairbrush when they don't eat all their vegetables."

Gloria's face fell entirely at that. "I…I see. Well, that's a…that's a real shame isn't it."  

Jane closed her eyes and did her damndest to focus on Mike, still hyperfocused on his rocket, before the buzzing in Gloria's head could push a raging ache through her own.

"Anyway, I really hate to break up you guys' little pow-wow but, Jane and her Dad and I really need to get going, if we're going to make the movie. Sweetheart, if you're ready?"

She beckoned for Jane to follow her back to the house. Jane glowered at her sullenly but nodded nonetheless.

"Bye guys. Mike." She leaned down to plant a tiny peck on her boyfriend's pale lips. He grinned like a big idiot at that, stroking her hand softly as a parting gesture before letting her go off to join her nanny, who took her shoulders between talon-like fingers and began steering her back inside.

"Did you see that? Woman is SO into me," Dustin's voice echoed out behind them.  

"Dude, she's engaged to my girlfriend's Dad! Don't be gross."

"So? Half of all marriages end in divorce anyway. It's a scientific fact. I give it five years and by then, I'll be just the right age to make her mine. _You'll see_."

"Ummm I hate to burst your little bubble Dusty, but she's a good decade older than you."

"Says the girl secretly crushing on Judd Nelson. _And don't you deny it_. Besides, I'd wait forever for her if I had to."

Gloria giggled softly as the sounds of the other kids' squabbling followed them all the way back to the cabin, but Jane just folded her arms and glowered once more. It felt as though the more time went on, the more every aspect of her life was infected by Gloria De Falco somehow. _And she hated every last bit of it._

***

_"It's good for you silly, just trust me!" The girl traces something resembling a 'v' shape in Kiolar's palm for the umpteenth time before pointing to the bowl of cinnamon maple oatmeal in front of them and then at her own mouth insistently._

_"I know after all those Big Macs Francesca's been feeding you this seems kinda stingy, but it's yummy! I swear!"_

_She bangs her palms insistently on the metal table then. Kiolar shoots her a disbelieving look as they stick a long, pale digit through the pale, mushy cereal._

_"You do of course realize he can't understand abstract conceptualizations like 'yummy', right?"_

_The girl turns to fix a pointed glare at the man leaning cavalierly in the doorway behind her, arms folded and expression entirely mocking._

_"Basic concrete concepts, yes. People, places, things, you betcha. But you might as well be trying to teach a miniature pinscher how to play chess right now, Sweets."_

_The girl rolls her eyes heavily at all the $25 dollar college words the man managed to interject in a single paragraph._

_"They." She states it simply before moving to place a long silver teaspoon loaded up with oatmeal in Kiolar's other hand, cajoling him into putting it in their thin, pale mouth my mimicking chewing sounds._

_"I beg your pardon?"_

_The girl tuts impatiently at the continued interruptions._

_"Greys are genderless, D.P._ There is no he or she among them _. You're using the wrong pronoun; I should think a Communications Liason of all people would want to be aware of that."_

_D.P. moves from his spot at the door to take the seat beside her now, eyes narrowed warily._

_"And… just_ how exactly _do you know they're genderless?"_

_She turns to observe him with a proud smirk. "They told me."_

_D.P.'s eyebrows practically ascend into his bangs disbelievingly now. "They…told you?"_

_"Yes."_

_"How? You teach them the tracing for penis?"_

_"Mr. Porter!"_

_D.P. and the girl both jump in their seats as the shrill voice of A.J. Honeycutt comes blaring into the room, said woman peering at her colleague disapprovingly as she cranes her (abnormally) long neck over the partially-open door._

_"Mind your language! She's only a child for heaven's sake!"_

_D.P. bites down the urge to laugh. "Apologies,_ _Alice_ _. Won't happen again."_

 _The middle-aged woman shakes her head disapprovingly before blustering into the room parallel from theirs, where two other Greys,  'Tochell' and 'Quogne',  Francesca had named them once upon a time, sit side-by-side, practically_ huddled _together on a long, black operating table. A number of Honeycutt's subordinates bustle about them now, a couple trying (unsuccessfully) to coax them physically apart, others sticking wires to whatever spots on their bodies they can actually reach, still others taking fiber samples from that strange, quasi-fluid material that makes up their flight suits. Quogne manages to catch the girl's eye in the midst of all the hubbub, and raises their arm in a friendly morning greeting._

_The girl nods at her old friends with a reassuring smile before resuming her ministrations in Kiolar's palm._

_"No, D.P., I didn't teach them to draw anything inappropriate." She shakes her head with a small snigger."I showed them one of my Dad's old biology textbooks a couple years back. They didn’t' seem all that phased by our anatomy, but made it quite clear they didn't share a good fifty percent of our um,_ basic appendages _."_

_Her neck and cheeks redden slightly as she says it, but whether the man beside her notices, she cannot tell._

_"You read to them a lot then?" D.P. inquires of her thoughtfully. "Have you had much luck teaching them to string together words into complex phrases?"_

_The girl's mouth presses into a thin line. "I do try reading to them from time to time yes, but," she pauses to consider how best to explain it, "I've found they fare a lot better with stories that are more…_ interactive _."_

_D.P.'s  eyes narrow slightly at that. "How so?"_

_The girl shrugs. "They like it better when me or Francesca make up stories for them on the fly. That way we can stop in the middle and let them tell us how they want it to finish. Encourages them to ask us through the tracing how we visualize certain concepts, how we'd put them into pictures or words."_

_"Huh." D.P. strokes the five o'clock shadow outlining his stubborn chin thoughtfully, deeply impressed in spite of himself. "That's uh, that's actually really clever, Sweets._ Really _clever." He pauses to observe her carefully here. "I wouldn't have thought that—"_

_"I know I know, that a silly baby like little ol' me could come up with a system that intricate." The girl turns to smirk at him then. "I may just surprise you yet, D.P."_

_She turns back to Kiolar, who at long last has acquiesced to her request to try the porridge. She traces a small '_ ✓ _', followed by a question mark, their agreed-upon symbol for "good?" Kiolar pauses thoughtfully before tracing a shiny flat line in her hand in response._

_"Eh."_

_The girl remains painfully aware of the older man's eyes on her and her friend, never leaving them for a split second, soaking up every last mode of interaction between them like a sponge. Finally she just shakes her head and gives in._

_"Here," she moves then to take his hand in hers, ignoring the way her pulse quickens somewhat at the contact, and he lets her guide it toward Kiolar's palm, whom she signals with a small nod into opening it up for her once more._

_"Let's ask them if they'd like a little sugar. You draw the shaker," she moves D.P.'s pointy finger in a small, cylindrical pattern, "then the granules," she has him poke Kiolar's palm several times over, "and then the question mark." She outlines a small hook with a dot at the end with his finger._

_The corners of D.P.'s mouth twitch up slightly, and though she knows it's just as likely he's resisting the urge to poke fun at her once more, the girl can't help but sense that he's genuinely pleased with the connections being made._

_She turns his hand over gingerly in hers now, shuddering slightly at the prolonged touch (she sincerely hopes he hasn't noticed_ that _either), moving his fingers down one by one until his hand's resting out firmly flat. Kiolar then moves a long gray digit to draw a small check in the center._

_"See, that's a yes. They want it sweeter."_

_She reaches for the sugar shaker on the other end of the table, handing it to her friend, who sprinkles it over the porridge expertly, like they've been using human condiments for years._

_D.P. is full-blown grinning like an idiot now in spite of himself._

_"That's ah, hmm." Is all he can finally manage to say. The wolfish grin reserved just for the girl is still there, but it's lost a considerable amount of its bite._

_"Not bad Sweets, not bad at all."_

_Honeycutt clears her throat sharply from behind them. The girl is quick to drop D.P.'s hand from her own, cheeks turning increasingly pinker as she turns to greet the older woman with a polite smile._

But Honeycutt's already clocked it.

_Her right brow crooks slightly upward as those pea green eyes travel from her colleague to the teen blushing like a schoolgirl with a crush on the hot English teacher._

_"A word, Mr. Porter." She says it softly, non-commandingly. But_ insistently _._

_D.P. nods obligingly, getting up to follow his superior to her office without so much as a cursory look back._

_Kiolar grabs her palm suddenly then, tracing a tiny heart shape within._

_"No!" She pulls her arm back before they can even form the question mark."No it is NOT like that. Don't even think it, Kiolar. The guy's a total sleaze. Plus he's WAY too old. Bleh."_

_The girl shakes her head back and forth insistently, but something in the way the alien's eyeing her now tells her they don't buy her act any more than she does._

_***_

Hopper rubbed his sweat-slicked hand against his jeans for the third time in five minutes before resuming his death-choke grip on the steering wheel. The car ride to the Lab had thus far been a painfully awkward affair, Jane acting more sulky and distant than ever in the back of the car, Gloria fidgeting with the contents of her purse and staring out the passenger side window with blank, cloudy eyes.

Once or twice Hopper tried to distract them with small talk about the weather, suggest something fun or exciting for them to do later on tonight when they finally got home. But it always ended up falling flat after a minute or two, both Gloria and Jane seemingly far, far away from him now, _lost in their own nerves._

Eventually the silence permeating the car grew so nerve-wracking he tried flicking on the radio to his favorite oldies station, but instead of some half-way decent tunes Hopper was forced to endure a five-minute commercial for the coming expansions to the _Starcourt Mall_ by that blowhard Mayor Kline.

At long, long last, Hopper was mercifully pulling into the Hawkins National Lab parking lot. He flicked off the ignition with a small sigh, some part of him itching to go digging for the bottle of Tuinal he knew was rolling around somewhere under his car seat but painfully aware of Gloria's eyes on him now.

"Alright, ladies. Let's do this thing."

He forced himself out the blazer despite feeling as though his legs had suddenly turned to lead. Jane unbuckled her seatbelt and moved to follow suit but was stopped by Gloria clearing her throat sharply from the front passenger seat.

"Remember the plan," the older woman muttered sharply before shifting around in her chair to hold out a travel pack of Kleenex with an arched brow.

Jane scowled before yanking the tissues out of  her hand.

"Don't worry about your precious _plan_. You'll get just what you came here for," the teen hissed out at her before bolting from the car, slamming the door shut behind her so hard it made the nanny flinch.

Gloria reached for her own door handle slowly, taking several deep breaths before shutting her eyes tight, vocalizing the advice D.P. had given her the _first_ time she'd volunteered for this particular kind of undertaking (had it really been five years already?).

"Don't sweat. Don't cry. Don't let 'em shake your faith, don't give 'em reasons why. Stab 'em while they sleep, _bleed 'em 'til they're dry_."

She repeated the mantra to herself another seven times before finally making her way out of the car, flashing a small, reassuring smile at Hopper where he stood waiting for her with an impatient Jane in the middle of the parking lot.

As soon as she reached them Hopper placed a tender arm around her, pulling her flush against his much larger body before moving to do the same with Jane on the other side. Keeping both his ladies physically close made him feel braver somehow, more certain of the choice he had made to acquiesce to Gloria's request for this little visit.

He steered them both gently through the see-through double doors straight towards the Lab atrium, holding his breath the entire time.

The ground floor was an even more quiet, desolate, immobile place than it had been the last time Hopper had taken Jane there last February. _Like a tomb._ Fitting really, he couldn't help but think as his eyes flashed to the patch of floor poor Bob the Brain had been eaten alive on not even a year ago.

About half-way through the room their eyes fell on a solitary figure waiting for them by a large desk that had once been manned by three receptionists at a time, and was now as empty and abandoned as the rest of the outer hall. The figure, a portly man with curly gray hair and a lab coat down to his knees, was leaning on a hook-shaped cane that made Hopper grimace guility in spite of himself every time he saw it.

"Hey there, Cowboy. Long time no see." Owens greeted Hopper with a small pat on the back and a warm handshake.

"Hiya, Doc. Glad to see you still holding down the fort in one piece."

The older man shook his head with a small chuckle at that.

"How you faring there, Jane? Having a good summer?" Owens nodded at the teenage girl where she meandered shyly behind her father, receiving nothing more than a polite nod and a small smile in response.

"And you must be the _future_ Mrs. Cowboy." Owens finally turned to Gloria now, a kind (if tight-lipped) smile on his face as he eyed her up and down appraisingly. "My my Hop, I can certainly see why you chose to settle down with this one. Pretty little thing, isn't she?"

Gloria tittered out a pair of throaty giggles at that. "Well now, Jim didn't tell me what a total _sweetheart_ you were, Dr. Owens."

She patted the man's shoulder kindly, rearranging her features into as delightful a smile as she had it in her to muster.

_Mere feet away from her, Jane began dabbing roughly at the spot above her right ear, the sensation of angry wasps buzzing about the room growing furioser and furioser with every passing second…_

Hopper took a deep breath before finally piping up again."Thanks for indulging us in this little visit, Doc. I know uh, under any other circumstance, you'd be under a lot of pressure to… _handle things differently_."

His eyes flashed to his fiancé beside him at that before turning back to Owens a little nervously.

The older man's expression grew somewhat wan, and Hopper noticed his right hand briefly leave the cane to squeeze at something deep within his coat pocket before responding.  

"Well now, Chief-o," he began again thoughtfully after a moment's contemplation,  "after everything you've done to help us keep our operations ongoing in secret, I'd say turn-about is fair play, wouldn't you?" He capped off the postulation with a small wave of the hand.

"Besides, Sheriff, _we're not idiots here_. Everybody's got a personal life. Accidents will happen, little leaks in the wall are bound to spring up here and there. If we went around slaughtering every last man, woman, and child who stumbled onto the wide world of weird here in good ol' Hawkins, well, we'd end up drawing even _more_ unwanted attention to ourselves, now wouldn't we?"

He offered Gloria a sly wink here, chortling somewhat obnoxiously at his own candor. Hopper tensed somewhat beside her at the word 'slaughter', but she just grinned and chuckled back unaffectedly.

_After Honeycutt, there was no way this toady little wise-ass was going to get her goat…_

***

_Porter sighs heavily as his superior eyes him pensively while they walk together, sucking on the tip of her ball-point pen while she anticipates his response._

_"You really want me to play_ babysitter _with the little brat for the next twelve months?" He shakes his head in utter disbelief now. "As it is I'm still not sure WHY you think we even need her—"_

 _"They have no reason to cooperate without her here, Porter. And you know as well as I do she's our only real hope of getting through to them sooner rather than later. I have enough on my plate with those assholes from D.C. constantly breathing down my neck to push up our test schedulings; you're not making my life any easier by constantly antagonizing the girl instead of actually trying to_ learn _from her."_

_Porter rolls his eyes sharply at that. "Can't you just assign Peffercorn or somebody from the upstairs crew  to record their interactions? Then I can look over the tapes and construct my own interpretation of their symbology—"_

_Honeycutt sucks even harder on her pen now. "Peffercorn won't have the same affect on her."_

_He stops dead in his tracks at that. "What the hell are you talking about?"_

_It's Honeycutt's turn to roll her eyes now. "She_ likes _you, genius."_

_Porter eyes her silently for several long moments. Then, throws his head back in rigorous laughter._

_"_ _Alice_ _, I think it may be time to get a larger set of glasses. The girl pretty much flat-out DESPISES me, it's not even a well-kept secret."_

_But Honeycutt just shakes her head back and forth at him with a knowing smile._

_"There's a thin line between love and hate, Porter. And that girl looks at you like_ I _used to look at Clark Gable when I was her age."_

_Porter eyes her in distaste. "She's just a kid, Alice. Pretty sure I have fillings older than her."_

_Honeycutt throws her hands in the air frustratedly. "I'm not saying do anything_ illegal _, for God's sake. Just...figure out how to use her little crush on you to your advantage."_

_"I don't know…." He shakes his head rather uncomfortably._

_Honeycutt pulls the pen out of her mouth with a small 'pop', using it instead now to point sharply at the man across from her._

_"You do what I ask, Porter, and maybe, just maybe, I'll mention your name to Mr. Van Neumann the way you've been_ angling for _the past year and a half. Not to mention a big fat pay raise with your name on it."_

_Porter sighs, but ultimately acquiesces to her demands with a small nod._

_Honeycutt smiles wanly at him before reaching into her coat pocket, yanking out two sets of lab goggles and handing him the one with the shorter tie-string._

_Porter yanks them on his head agitatedly as she in turn struggles to settle her own atop those thick coke-bottle glasses._

_They stop right in front of a heavy metal door smack-dab in the middle of the long, narrow hall. Honeycutt presses a thumb into the tiny, circular panel atop the shiny silver handle, waiting several seconds for the scan of her fingerprint to complete before the door swings open with a loud "click"._

_She ushers Porter into the room, which leads directly onto a giant metal staircase a good two stories tall, overlooking a laboratory so enormous you could have fit the entirety of Yankee stadium in it._

_The hubbub of activity in the room is mind-numbing as no less than_ thirty scientists _meander about the four, iridescent, egg-shaped pods situated on a slightly raised platform in the center of the chamber, said dais outlined by hundreds of Kelly green crystals, each shining a spectacular neon light that collectively fills the lab with a warm, viridescent glow._

_Seated snugly in the center of each pod is one of four Greys, and even as he makes his way down the stairs from their current height, Porter can spot the long auburn locks of the girl swaying languidly along her shoulders as she busily attends to each of her friends. Tracing reassuringly in their palms, whispering sentiments Porter is certain they probably don't understand a good seventy percent of. But maybe, just like with us, it's the thought that really counts._

_A tall man with a pointed nose ushers the girl back off the dais, and Porter wastes no time sidling up next to where she's fidgeting a little nervously._

_"Hey," he tosses it out there simply, waiting for her to bite._

_The girl turns slightly, eyes scanning their little corner of the lab to confirm he really_ was _actually addressing her._

_"Hi." She responds politely, eyes turning back to focus squarely on the pods._

_"GOGGLES ON, EVERYBODY." The shrill voice of AJ Honeycutt is amplified twenty fold into an intercom on the other side of the room. Suddenly the whole world stops around them as thirty-something pairs of goggles are adjusted over their owners heads, and now_ everyone's _eyes are on the pods, watching and waiting._

 _"FINAL COUNTDOWN STARTS_ _NOW_ _," Honeycutt begins again, nodding at a woman with a cropped black bob several feet away from her, currently hovering over a giant red switch in the middle of the wall._

 _"_ _FIVE_ _,"_

_At the word, the dark-haired woman slowly starts to yank the switch downward; almost instantly every last set of crystals surrounding the dais begin to blink._

_"FOUR,"_

_The electricity in the center of the room is so powerful, the girl swears if she takes even the slightest step back toward the platform she'll get a good shock._

_"THREE,"_

_The crystals are blinking so rapidly now it's beginning to leave blind spots all over Porter's eyes._

_"TWO,"_

_Each pod begins to close now around their tiny Grey occupant. Kiolar catches the girl's eye one final time, raising their right arm ever-so- slightly as a parting gesture._ Just in case.

 _"_ _ONE_ _!"_

 _A flash of blinding green light that illuminates the entire lab from floor to ceiling, and then suddenly all four pods are gone._ Vanished entirely, as though in thin air.

_"I'm never going to get used to that." Porter admits to the girl with a shake of the head._

_"Yeah, it's kinda hard for me too," she agrees with a small shrug beside him. "I feel like one of these days they're_ finally _going to find whatever it was they were looking for in the first place and just…never come back."_

_D.P. crinkles his forehead confusedly at that. "What do you mean?" He turns to eye her curiously now. "How do you know they weren't looking for Earth in the first place?"_

_The girl shrugs. "Just a hunch."_

_He crooks a shiny black eyebrow at her. "A hunch?"_

_"You'll laugh at me if I tell you," she admits with a wry smile._

_D.P. chuckles at her, grinning warmly. "I_ swear _I won't laugh at you."_

_She peers at him disbelievingly for a moment before acquiescing. "So there's this one particular story Fran and I came up with for them, 'bout three years back now. In it Fran and I are noble warrior queens trying to find our kidnapped father, the faerie king—"_

_D.P. can't stop himself from snorting heavily into his right hand now._

_She crosses her arms tightly then, hazel eyes flashing in unmitigated furor. "You SWORE you wouldn't laugh!"_

_"Alright, alright, I'm sorry Sweets." D.P. holds up both hands placatingly. "You were saying?"_

_The girl rolls her eyes at him before continuing._

_"So at the very end of the story, the evil witch Althea the Abominable casts a killing spell at Fran, but I jump in the way to save her, giving up my own life in the process. I was super duper theatrical back then; acting out death scenes was my favorite," she elaborates with a sheepish grin._

_"So anyway, Frannie jumps in to play the part of my guardian angel, delivering my valiant soul safely into heaven's embrace!" She bumps her fist into her chest dramatically at that. D.P. finds the grin spreading across his face at her antics doesn't have to be faked._

_"But of course the D.L.F.'s don't really understand what it is we're acting out at first. So I get the bright idea to grab my old copy of 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'—"_

_"Oh you and the Narnia!" D.P. throws his arms in the air with a small shake of the head. The girl's eyes narrow slightly but she continues nonetheless._

_"…And I show them the picture of the Penvensie kids going through the wardrobe and entering an entirely different realm. And then I pair that with our trace for dying, and—"_

_"Which is?" D.P. interrupts her curiously._

_"A big fat 'X'."_

_He smirks at her for that, but not mockingly. "Alright, makes sense. Go on."_

_"So once Fran and I are pretty sure the D.L.F.s understand the basic concept they start going NUTS. Like they drag us from the tree house in broad daylight, I was sooooo terrified one of the neighbors was going to see. Lucky they're so small and super duper quick when you get 'em running…anyway, they bring us back to the beach where they were stashing their pods under the bluffs. And they start pointing to them, then back up to the sky, over and over and over again."_

_"Which…means_ what _exactly?"_

_The girl's face falls a bit._

_"Like I said…it's just a hunch but, I feel like they were trying to tell us they were trying to reach an entirely different place. Like…not another physical planet, not here. Some place, just…entirely different._ Interdimensional _, maybe. You know?"_

 _D.P.'s lips part slightly, coppery eyes narrowing as the keen mind behind them begins working something out. Something_ crucial _._

_"I want to be there the next time you tell them stories."_

_He states it in the form of a command, but it's really a request. Before the girl can respond however, Dr. Honeycutt's ice-pick of a voice comes echoing across the screechy intercom throughout the room._

_"SECOND COUNTDOWN RESUMING IN THE_ _NEXT_ _SEVERAL SECONDS. EVERYONE PLEASE BRACE YOURSELF FOR POTENTIAL IMPACT."_

_She nods once more at her bob-haired assistant, who begins darting along the lab's mile-long computer mainframe, pressing a series of multi-colored buttons in an intricate sequence before making her way back to the giant red switch on the other end of the wall._

_"_ _FIVE_ _," Once again, the woman flips the knob, this time right-side up. The crystals resume their blinking as before, faster than the beating of a hummingbird's wings._

_"FOUR, THREE, TWO—"_

_Honeycutt doesn't even make it all the way to one before a massive strike of emerald lightning comes crashing down in the middle of the dais, and with it, all four pods returned to their proper place._ As if they never left.

_Even from where she's standing on the other side of the room, the girl can spot the look of unmitigated triumph alight in Honeycutt's pea-green eyes._

_As soon as the pod doors begin to slide open the girls dashes her way up the platform, straight to the second from the left, Kiolar's shuttle._

_She rushes to meet them with a warm grin, but her expression falters the second she sees the one plastered on their face._

Pure abject fear.

 _Her eyes dash between Tochell and Quogne, their own countenances ranging from exhausted to thoroughly grim, and then to the youngest, Aelspar, Fran and her had agreed was what the name they'd given sounded most like on the human tongue. Unlike the others, Aelspar is shaking like a leaf in the wind, eyes massive and blank and_ thoroughly petrified _._

_The girl turns back to stare between D.P. and Honeycutt questioningly, but both are regarding the aliens' strange behavior with the same befuddlement she is._

_Swallowing thickly, she coaxes Kiolar's hand into her own, tracing a long loopy question mark in the middle of their palm._

_Kiolar looks to Tochell and Quogne searchingly for several long seconds. Finally, they take the girl's hand in their own, tracing a giant, fat, X in the middle of it._

_The girl promptly feels_ herself _begin to shudder where she stands._

_"Did they bring back anything?" Honeycutt appears suddenly over the girl's shoulder, her expression wide-eyed as though concerned. But more than anything curious._

_The girl points to Honeycutt and traces another hook in Kiolar's palm. The Grey nods to Tochell, who turns back inside their pod, fishing something from underneath the lone metallic chair._

_The girl crinkles her eyes as she struggles to make sense of the strange, gelatinous weed her friend holds out to her between their long, spindly digits._

_"It looks like…some sort of dead flower," D.P. postulates confusedly from behind her._

_"Yes." Honeycutt's voice is breathy now, her eyes lit up like twin Christmas trees._

_"Peffercorn!"_

_Honeycutt's bob-haired assistant is at her side in less than five seconds._

_"Take this to my personal lab right away. I have a feeling this particular plant has a verrrry interesting story to tell."_

***

"Anyway," Owens began again with a small clap of the hands. "This little visit actually gives me a good opportunity to discuss something with Chief-o here. Something you really ought to see for yourself in person." The corners of the doctor's mouth twitched somewhat downward here, and Hopper shot him a strange look. But the older man just ignored it.

"If you'll all follow me?"

Owens beckoned them into the closest elevator on the adjacent wall. He turned to grin at each of them pleasantly before thumbing the button labeled "Basement Floor" until it lit up brightly. Hopper had to shake himself hard as memories of that awful night he'd had to bring Jane all the way down to the Gate began rearing their ugly heads at him. _Not now, not now._

Thankfully once the elevator doors opened, the sight of long, creeping tendrils and dark, cavernous caves did not greet them. It was simply a typical-looking office corridor, though this one was FAR more alive with noise and overall human activity than the upstairs atrium.  

Hopper pulled Jane and Gloria closer to him than ever as Owens shepherded them past half a dozen of his subordinates hustling this way and that, only stopping 'til they'd reached a good two-thirds of the way down the hall, guiding them through the second door on the right-hand side.

The room was thoroughly sterile and white, painfully polished from top to bottom like a freshly opened hospital. There were innumerable lab tables set neatly parallel to one another up and down the entire length of the room, all containing a box-shaped computer monitor with the "U.S. Department of Energy" logo gleaming mockingly on their screensavers.

Owens led the three of them to a desk all the way at the very back of the room. Sat perched smack-dab in the middle was a shiny green crystal with pointy shards extending every which way from the bottom half.

Hopper felt Jane tense up instantly next to him, eyes wide and mouth slightly slack as her gaze fell on the strange, gleaming rock.

"Not to worry Ms. Hopper," Owens reassured her as he flicked on a small over-hanging lamp on the top-most shelf. "Your father informed us of your, ahhhh, _particularly strong reaction_ the last time you came into contact with one of these beauties. My team and I have been working hard on studying them ever since he mentioned you and your friends spotting some around town a couple months back. The more we've tried unearthing them, the more we’ve discovered embedded in the soil across the entire town. It's actually pretty wild."

He shook his head almost disbelievingly at Hopper before whetting his lips in thought, deciding best how to elaborate.   

"There's virtually _zero_ doubt they're alien in nature. They don't behave like your standard rock formation at all; oh no no. If anything I'd say…they're practically _vampiric_ in design."

"Vampiric?" Hopper echoed back at him, utterly bewildered now.

"Yes, actually." Owens nodded affirmingly. "This may sound strange…well…stranger than even what _you two_ are used to," he nodded at Hopper and Jane. "You see…these crystals, actually _crave blood_. Doesn't even have to be human, any organism's vital fluids will do. In fact, that's what _this_ is for."

He pointed at the long, pointy shard smack-dab in the center of the crystal's underbelly.

"Wherever, _however_ these things developed, they did so with a need for blood and _the means to procure it_. And if they _don't_ get it, well." Owens shook his head with a small shudder. "At first my team reported getting strong headaches the longer they spent tinkering around with these things. Then blurry vision. Then _hours-long_ _fainting spells._ You Jane, being as particularly sensitive to ah, _interdimensional entities_ , as you are, well. That's more than likely the reason it ended up winding you as badly as it did during your initial contact."

He waved a hand at her in the manner of a professor explaining to his pupil why E = MC2.

"After experimenting with them for a while though we eventually figured out what it took to get these little buggers to cooperate. Nothing more than two or three droplets or so of freshly spilled blood will do the trick. I greased this one up myself just before you got here; wouldn't want to ruin that pretty shirt white shirt, now would we?"

He winked at Jane as he held up the crystal in his palm, pointing at the crimson liquid smeared thinly over the edges.

"It's a bit dulled now, but you should have seen this thing light up like a Christmas tree before, man. _Whew_. Truly remarkable."

Jane just stood there blankly, unsure how she ought to be responding to Owen's supposed revelations. Apparently she wasn't as good of a liar as Gloria was after all. _How did she always get people to think they were telling her something she didn't already know?_

The teen's eyes flashed toward her nanny briefly, and sure enough, Gloria's expression as she eyed the crystal was borderline vacant; a slight crease had emerged between her brows to suggest the expected curiosity, but little more. She moved to lay a reassuring arm on her charge's shoulder all the same though, and even if the girl couldn't read feelings she'd _still_ be able to tell what it meant.

_None of this really matters. Just stick to the plan._

Hopper meanwhile had moved to stand beside Owens, head bowed and eyes squinty as he peered intently at the Kelly green rock.

"What's making it light up like that, though Doc?"

"The blood interacts with bioluminescent chemicals inside the shard formations. Truly fascinating process to behold, really."

"Any idea what it's used for? Or where it even came from?" Hopper cocked his head here cynically.  

Owens shook his head. "Only theories so far, to be honest," he admitted a little sheepishly."We _are_ pretty confident they were left behind by Will's Shadow Creature. The _vast majority_ of the clusters we've found so far were in the tunnels that thingamajig dug out beneath the town last year. But what they're exact purpose is…well, that's a little tougher to decipher. Given the nature of its bioluminescence, it'd be natural to assume some form of _signaling_ device but, again, that's just a theory."

Hopper's eyebrows nearly burrowed into each other at that. "Who would the Mindflayer need to signal too? It takes over everything it touches."

Owens shook his head. "Honsetly Chief-o, your guess is as good as mine at this point." He placed the crystal gingerly back onto the desktop.

"Point is, they're definitely not _poisonous_ but…certainly potentially _dangerous_ to anyone who has the bright idea to go digging these up in the woods. One way or another, _they'll get their blood_."

"Which means—"

"Which means my team and I will be needing to do a thorough sweep of the area before one too many of these babies make their way to the surface. Collect as many as humanly possible to keep them from falling into the wrong hands."

Hopper cradled his face between his fingers, thumbing his eyeballs as far into their sockets as they would go.

"That's _not_ gonna be easy to pull off, Doc. The town's on edge enough as it is after that 'radiation leak' of yours. Bunch of men crawling around town all of a sudden, digging up the soil—"

"Actually, I would think the radiation leak ought to be the perfect cover," Owens postulated with a small toss of his hand. "Make people think we're doing our darndest to make sure the ecosystem's clean. So that our little 'mess' doesn't rear its ugly head again. However…we're definitely going to need you and your buddies at the Hawkins PD to keep the townies out of our way for the time being. Fudge over whatever paperwork needs to be smudged to give us protection for let's say…ohhhhh about a month or two. Think you can manage?"

Hopper blew out an enormous puff of air. "I don't really have a choice now, do I?"

Owens chuckled at that. "Well, unless you want Hawkins General to have a mysterious uptake in dizzy spells and brain hemorrhaging, I'd say not."

Jane fidgeted where she stood uncomfortably but resisted the urge to say anything. Gloria continued to pat her shoulder thoughtfully but otherwise retained her countenance of stone.

"Anyway," Owens rubbed his hands together congenially.

"Now that we've got that business over and done with, Ms. De Falco, I believe you had a few questions for me."

***

 _"…But the faerie queen would not be deterred, and looking Althea straight in those beady little eyes, declared for all the kingdom to hear, 'Your reign of terror is over, be gone now vile hag!' Waving her wand in a circle three times then, she banished Althea down, down,_ all the way down to _the Underworld, where she could never bring harm to any of the children in the kingdom again."_

_Porter sits quietly at the desk in the corner, observing with soft eyes but a hard expression, scribbling away like mad on his notepad._

_"And then the faerie queen, content all was at last set right in that realm, flew off to the next kingdom who'd sent an envoy to her and the Black Knight…"_

_D.P. can't resist shaking his head fondly as the girl imitates the flapping of wings with those rail-like arms, her alien friends all sat before her, watching her movements transfixedly. She really HADN'T been lying when she said she was theatrical…_

_Kiolar reaches out suddenly to grab the girl's hand then, prying her fingers open to get at her palm. They waste no time drawing a lithe, feminine figure with shimmering wings in that mysterious green tracing, quickly followed by a giant question mark as the initial imprint quickly fades._

_The girl beams warmly at them. "Yes, Kiolar, she_ did _end up living happily ever after, when all was said and done."_

_Kiolar bows their head then, relinquishing the firm grip they'd been keeping on the girl's hand and moving to the wall directly across the room from D.P._

_Raising a long, probing digit high above their head, the Grey presses down hard on a random spot on the off-white plaster. Instantly, long ropes of almost liquidy green marks begin emanating from their finger, a random assortment of shapes at first (which D.P. initially assumes to be some sort of alphabet), but as the seconds pass coalesce into a series of shifting images that take up the entire wall._

_Their fellows join in then, adding their own series of tracings which immediately begin interweaving and locking with Kiolar's original designs, all continuing to spread wide and long until all four corners of the room have been filled up with shiny green imagery._

_D.P. jumps up from his seat quickly, moving to the tripod he'd had Peffercorn set up the night before in the center of the room, and flashes as many pictures of each painting he can catch before the images move and shift into each other again, which they seem to do every few seconds before resetting to their original state._

_"They draw this story a lot." The girl breaks D.P.'s concentration with the proffered musing, one he can't help but notice is ever-so-slightly frustrated, and even a little dejected in tone._

_"Story?" Dante utters back at her in between snapping shots._

_"Yeah. I think it must have been something that actually happened though, cause the drawings are always the same. Like something out of a memory. But I'm not really sure what most of it means. Like, these are_ pretty obviously _them," she points to two tiny figures on the wall closest to the door, each holding up a slightly pulsating rock lined with spikes on its underbelly, before morphing into a panorama of the four of them all seated together in a giant, egg-shaped pod._

_"So it's probably something that happened to them way back on their planet but…what exactly? No clue. Don't even get me started on what THAT thing is."_

_She points to a giant, spider-like figure taking up the entirety of the ceiling. Something about its massive, angular legs, like giant claws reaching down from the roof above them, makes D.P. shudder a bit where he stands hunched over the camera._

_"What do they do when you ask them to explain it all to you?"_

_D.P. moves to stand by the girl now, taking in as much of the ever-changing wall paintings as he can and comparing them to the snapshots now clutched tightly in his hands._

_She shrugs. "They just keep pointing at me to watch the pictures…it's like they think the longer I stare at them, the more likely I am to get it. But it's been years and all I know is that whatever the hell THAT thing is," she points to the giant spider-thingamajig again, "they_ do not _like it at all."_

_"You sure about that? For all we know spiders are like pets to their kind."_

_The girl shakes her head firmly. "I thought about that too, but they always draw an 'X' in my hand whenever I bring it up to them. So either they hated it enough to kill it, or—"_

_"They're afraid of it," he finished for her grimly. "But why exactly? Some sort of carnivorous predator on their home world perhaps? Or maybe it isn't even that big in real life. You see how irrationally_ we _react to spiders…maybe they just don't like it for being uglier than a motherfucker."_

_"PORTER! LANGUAGE!"_

_"Sorry,_ _Alice_ _!" D.P. blurts out over his shoulder into the outer hallway. He catches the girl's eye and they both break out into a fit of hysterics, not noticing the tracing of the spider-creature above them slowly but surely fold in on itself, remerging as a series of twisting, creeping vines with large, flower-like orifices pulsating on the ends…_

***

Owens folded his hands together tightly, tilting his head toward Gloria with an expectant expression. The younger woman licked her lips pensively for a long, drawn-out moment before finally nodding, stepping forward to speak to the older man more directly.

"Yes, Doctor. I, uh," She turned her eyes to the floor as if struggling to come up with the right words for what she was thinking.

"I'm concerned about what all these different abilities are ultimately going to mean for Jane's future. From what Jim has told me, new powers seem to be emerging more and more as she gets older. I was wondering if you could help me, I mean, help _us,_ " Gloria grabbed Hopper's hand here supportively, "have a clearer picture of what life for her, and us by extension, will look like once she reaches maturity. _What we can expect once she's fully grown_. Whether her powers may ever become less…controllable."

She could sense Jane shifting somewhat uncomfortably beside her now. _But there was nothing for it._

Owens eyed her ponderously, the squeezing motion in his pocket amplified triple-fold from when they first met him back in the upstairs hall.

"I'm afraid you're assuming an awful lot of our ability to predict the future, Ms. De Falco. There's _a great deal_ of what Jane can do we still don't fully understand even now. Never mind adulthood."

Gloria arched a disbelieving eyebrow at him. _Why did every last horse's ass with a PhD have to be so goddamn smarmy?_

"You'll forgive me if I'm overstepping my boundaries Dr. Owens, but…based on just how long HNL has been running undercover out here, am I _really_ supposed to believe Terry Ives' test group was the first time you got _any_ experiment of this kind right?"

Owens practically turned to stone on the spot. Hopper's eyes began darting back and forth between him and his fiancé nervously, not sure whether he should pipe up with some kind of tactful redirection (or if he was even _capable_ of any tact after the pretty hard-hitting question she'd just posed). Jane found herself straightening up where she stood considerably, her thoughts suddenly turning to Kali and wondering if her one-time sister had ever bothered trying to find out the exact same thing.

Finally Owens stirred. "Yes, well," the older man began shifting where he stood one foot to the other, "all the concerns you've expressed are valid, of course."

He nodded at Gloria with a placating grin, but it escaped no one's notice he hadn't _actually_ addressed her last question.

"Although," his eyes slid to the floor slightly here before making their way back up to her own. "And you'll forgive me for saying this Ms. De Falco, but…I can't help but question whether someone as relatively… _unfamiliar_ , with all of this, as you still are, will be able to understand the full scope of what I'd have to share with you."

For once, Gloria gave into her urge to laugh wildly at the assertion before settling her features into a playful smirk.

"Try me."

_***_

_Porter runs a hand over his tired eyes, indulging himself in a deep puff of the joint he'd rolled somewhere during the interminably long evening spent cooped up in his office, before returning attentions to the thirty or so photographs laid spread out in the (one) patch of free space along the cluttered desk._

_"What the_ hell _are you trying to tell us, guys?"_

 _He had spent the last several days and nights now trying to decipher some form of consistent symbology from the aliens' drawings, to pick out some concept remotely familiar or discernable from a human perspective and run with it as a point of comparison. But at the end of the day he still was no closer to deciphering what the_ whole _of the story meant, and with that in mind all the individual images could have represented_ anything _as far as he knew. What good were theories if they all ended up driving him off course?_

_Throwing the last picture in his hand across the room indignantly, Porter slumps down in his seat, totally exhausted, on the verge of giving up empty-handed for the second week in a row._

_After a few more minutes wallowing in the crushing defeat of his failure (accompanied inevitably by several more drags off the joint), he forces himself out of his chair, walking over towards the door and bending down to pick up the snapshot he'd tossed away in the heat of the moment. He studies the spindly, claw-like appendages of the strange spider-being once more, before the solution FINALLY clicks inside his head._

_Porter straightens up suddenly then, bolting over to his computer on the other side of the room and moving his fingers across the keyboard like his life depended on it._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_"Now, now Kiolar; stop your fidgeting. This'll be over in just a minute."_

_Honeycutt bends over the Grey with pursed lips and a wan expression as they shift uncomfortably at the sight of a giant syringe in the woman's right hand._

_Before she can get the needle anywhere near the creature's skin, Porter bursts into the room with a loud bang, making Honeycutt and Kiolar both jump where they sit._

_"I need some time alone with them," he demands as soon as he's through the door._

_Honeycutt crooks a long, strawberry-blonde eyebrow at him. "We're in the middle of running a blood test, Mr. Porter. You're going to have to wait."_

_But D.P. just shakes his head firmly. "This CAN'T wait, Doctor. I'm on the verge of cracking their code," he bangs the giant black binder in his hands on the corner desk, as though to emphasize the point, "and I_ need _their help to do it right now, while they're still at the top of their mental game. Before you wind them for the day by drawing all that blood."_

 _He nods to the syringe in distaste before continuing. "You NEED to let me finish what we've started RIGHT. AWAY. And I'm going to need the girl brought in,_ _STAT_ _."_

_Honeycutt studies him pensively for several seconds, before finally nodding acquiescingly._

_"Alright, you have an hour. I'll send her down right away."_

_Honeycutt gets up from her seat, pocketing the syringe within the folds of that painfully white lab coat as she makes her way out the door._

_D.P. wastes no time flipping manically through his binder now, yanking out a giant stack of black and white print-outs he'd spent the entire night gathering off the Project Database , and spreading them out across the desk set parallel to the examination table his alien companions (all staring at him quizzically) currently sit on side by side._

_Moments later a small knock echoes from the other side of the door, and the girl sticks her head into the room with a thoroughly bemused expression._

_"Dr. Honeycutt said you wanted to see me?" Her eyes shift from D.P., to the Greys, and the assortment of print-outs on the desk with increased befuddlement. "What the heck is going on?"_

_D.P. pauses in the middle of his antics to grin at her triumphantly._

_"I think I worked out the key to their cipher, Sweets."_

_He reaches into his jacket pocket and yanks out the original snapshots of the aliens' tracings, stacking them into a small pile on the closet corner of the table before straightening up to beckon the girl fully into the room._

_"See…their way of communicating with us so far has been pretty hieroglyphic in nature. They know there's no way in hell we can replicate their speech patterns, not the way our vocal chords are designed. So they're trying to use pictures of actual persons, places, events, you get the idea, in order to help us understand what we're trying to say. But the problem is there's too much of a disconnect between our world and_ their _world. At least, at first glance."_

_He picks up the top-most picture: a tracing of several cylindrical objects, all branching out from a central, circular hub at the bottom. Gesturing for the aliens to hop off their table and move closer to the desk, D.P. points to the first print-out in his assembly, a black-and-white image of a tree upended at its roots, before reaching out to take Quogne's hand beside him and hurriedly drawing a small hook with a dot on the end at its center._

_Quogne eyes him pensively for a long moment before moving to trace a tiny 'x' in return._

_"Is that a 'no'? Or 'death' again?"_

_"Big 'X' is death, tiny one is 'no'._

_D.P. nods understandingly, moving to discard the print-out of the tree before pointing at the next in the lot, a picture of the_ _New York_ _skyline at night._

 _He gestures for the Grays to bend even closer to the image, trying not to hover as they study it intently. Finally, Tochell takes it upon themself to reach for D.P.'s hand, a shiny emerald "_ ✓ _" appearing in the palm now._

_"YES!"_

_D.P. claps his hands together triumphantly, rushing over to the adjacent wall and tacking both the city-scape printout and the corresponding snapshot together on the stark white plaster._

_"D.P., I don't understand. What does any of this mean?"_

_He turns back to the girl with a smile as dazzling as the sun._

_"It's their_ home _, Sweets." He points to the images clipped together on the plaster now, willing the girl to make the connection in her own head._

 _"They're showing us where they_ lived _before…their home city, or what we might think of as a city anyhow. They're telling us about where they came from."_

_He picks up the next snapshot now, an image of half a dozen figures stooped down on all fours, with something akin to large, elongated tiger lilies covered top to bottom with teeth for heads. He points to a print-out of a little girl snuggling her dog, turning to Tochell now for affirmation._

_Another tiny 'x'._

_They end up having to go back and forth through several different alternatives until he finally stumbles on a pack of Arctic wolves in the middle of chasing down a pair of caribou._

_This one garners a long, thoughtful pause, then a single thin line. "Eh."_

_"Close enough!"_

_D.P. rushes to tack the images next to the first set on their spot of the wall._

_"So basically what you've done is call up images from our world that correspond at least superficially to what they're trying to show us. Things we can use as a basic reference point, to get the gist of the story."_

_"Bingo!" D.P. affirms to her with an approving wag of his finger_

_"So, they've given us an idea what their homeworld is like, shown us a sample of the wildlife there… I'm guessing_ this _," he snaps up the picture of two of the Greys standing side by-side, each holding up a steadily flashing crystal in their hand, "is some kind of mating ritual."_

_The girl quirks an eyebrow at him strangely. "What makes you think that?"_

_"Because look at the very next picture, Sweets. It changes to the four of them altogether in that giant transport thingy."_

_D.P. skims through his printouts until he stumbles on a twin set, one depicting an elaborate outdoor wedding ceremony and the other featuring the couple from the first shot now standing over two small children in front of a fireplace._

_He ushers Tochell and Quogne both forward now, letting them study the portraits for a full minute before handing his hand out expectantly. But neither bother tracing in it, instead reaching out to take_ each other's _hands in exact mimicry of the couple from the wedding photo._

_"Knew it!" D.P. whooped in the air jubilantly. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I—"_

_"How did I miss that this entire time?!" The girl's jaw is entirely slack, eyes wide and positively_ furious _with herself._

_"Don't beat yourself up, Sweets. If you didn't know what to look for, you'd never ask."_

_"Yeah, but_ you _could clearly tell."_

_D.P. flashes that old wolfish grin at her. "Age does have SOME advantages, Sweets."_

_He winks slyly at her then. She just shakes her head with a wry smile before turning back to eye her friends thoughtfully._

_"So…they're a family then. Like Fran and Mom and Dad and me."_

_She beams warmly at her D.L.F.s now, reaching to stroke Kiolar's face gently with butterfly fingers._

_"I always knew we were just alike, you and me."_

_D.P. snorts as he scotch tapes more pictures to the wall._

_"_ Don't make me barf now, Sweets. _We're just starting to make progress."_

_The girl sticks her tongue out at him._

_"Alright then Mr. Smarty Pants, what the hell is this then?"_

_She moves to hold up the next photograph in the stack, the drawing of that giant spider-like creature filling the entire ceiling._

_"I swear_ , _if this is some kind of weird, pseudo-sexual device they invented, I'm leaving and not coming back."_

_D.P. laughs out loud at her candor before taking the snapshot from her hand. He moves it underneath a stark black print-out of a Chilean Rose tarantula._

_Little 'x'._

_He shifts it to an illustration of a giant squid._

_Another 'x'._ And twenty more after that, _no matter what assortment of wildlife, architecture, or everyday objects he tries._

_Fifty of their precious sixty minutes have passed when D.P. shakes his head perplexedly at the girl, blowing out a long, low sigh._

_"And to think, I thought this was going to be the easiest nut to crack."_

_He fishes between print-outs for a final time, pausing to consider one towards the end of the pile thoughtfully. He taps it between his hands while his brows furrow into each other, as if trying to decide something, before finally handing the image out to Quogne._

_Wide eyes, that same look of_ absolute, abject fear _overtake all of their faces now. Neither D.P. nor the girl need a check mark to know what that means._

_The girl snatches up the image from her friend's grip, face contorting in utter confusion as her eyes are met with an illustration of a giant, tentacled monster straight out of a fantasy book._

_"Nyarlathotep?" She repeats the label under the creature's name in disbelief. "D.P., what is this?"_

_"It's a deity from the Cthulhu mythos. Pops up in several Lovecraft works. Really nasty little fucker, ain't he?"_

_The print-out drops off swiftly from between the girl's hands as she turns back to her friends, expression now matching their horrified visages._

_"So they're telling us something very much like this Nyarlathotep thing exists on their homeworld? Dear God, no wonder they left."_

_D.P. hovers over the next  pair of snapshots in the stack, something critical clicking together in his mind._

_"They might not have had a choice, Sweets. Look."_

_He places another photo of the aliens' home city in her palm, then the shot immediately following it, the same image…_ turned upside down _._

_The girl swallows thickly before shifting her head back up to peer into the older man's eyes. "I…don't understand."_

_D.P. observes her grimly now. "Don't you?"_

_A moment of understanding passes between them, before they each turn back in unison to stare at their D.L.F.s, something decidedly dour and forlorn permeating the atmosphere of the room now._

_"So this…Nyarlathotep, destroyed their home world?" Wet trails begin to emerge on the girl's cheeks now, and even D.P. doesn't have the heart to poke fun at her for it._

_"Yes," he nods unsmilingly. "That's probably how they ended up here. They were_ escaping _."_

 _The girl finds she can no longer look at him, or_ any _of them now, turning instead to face the desk so she can dab at the liquid pools of water that have formed on her cheeks with her cornflower shawl._

It's then that she notices the last snapshot. 

 _Her hands begin to shake as she lifts it close to her tear-blurred eyes, trying to make sure she's really seeing what she_ thinks _she is. Three sets of wings, each intricately laced with a complex mosaic of every geometric shape imaginable (and some the girl wouldn't have come up with in her dizziest day dreams). A body that wisped about and flashed and burned like giant waves of smoke…eyes that shone brighter than the stars in the nighttime sky…_

 _Something out of the banks of her memory recall that Kiolar had tried tracing this image in the palm of her hand once, but she hadn't been able to understand it then._ She had no reference point to compare it to.

_It's then the girl feels herself begin to sway dramatically where she stands._

_"Whoaaaa. You okay, Sweets?" D.P. rushes to catch her as she nearly passes out on the hard tiled floor._

_She shakes herself hard, trying to ignore how nice it feels to be held in the impossibly handsome man's arms._

_"I've seen this before."_

_Her foggy mind propels the words out of her mouth before she's even had the chance to think through how wise it really is to tell him that._

_D.P. looks between the snapshot and her with increasing befuddlement._

_"You…_ know _what this is? I couldn't get it to match up to_ anything _in the database; it kept pointing me to pictures of fireflies and shit. But c'mon, that ain't no damn firefly, am I right?"_

 _The girl extricates herself from his grip now, rubbing her right arm protectively as the memories all begin flooding back, like projections inside her own skull._ Gargantuan beings, each a towering pillar surrounding her, with visages like _oceans of roaring flame._ Voices bold as thunder and lightning but whispering _softly_ … _gently…_ like a new mother's lullaby. An endless day, ungoverned by the whims of a cruel, night-yielding orb. And a conscious mind as irrepressibly free as the east wind blowing over the Atlantic in summer _–they all come streaming back to her in such indelibly sharp detail the girl wants to bawl._

_"I saw this when I died." She chokes it out in a coarse, strained voice. "It was one of the Others there…they came to talk to me before…before whatever the D.L.F.s did to my heart, brought me back."_

_D.P.'s face instantly grows palid at that, his eyes transfixed and unblinking on her as he struggles to wrap his mind around what it is she's trying to tell him. Several seconds' silence pass before he finally opens his mouth again to respond, but whatever he was about to say, the girl never knew, for just then the sound of the office door swinging shut makes them both turn sharply on the spot._

_Honeycutt is watching her intently through those coke-bottle glasses, and something in the intensity of her stare makes the girl feel faint and woozy all over again._

_"I think you and I need to talk, dear." She says it softly, but_ firmly _, leaving no room for argument._

_The girl swallows hard but she ends up nodding in acquiescence anyway, shooting one last look at D.P. and the Greys before moving to follow the older woman out the door._

This is what happens when you give up control, silly child.

***

Owens chuckled softly at Gloria's candor, but the sentiment felt entirely forced to everybody in the room. Reaching behind him then to the top-most shelf on the desk, he yanked out a crisp manilla folder with the words "Subject No. Eleven: Years 12-14" stamped in neat black lettering at the top of the front cover.

Flicking through it pensively, he looked up between Gloria, Hopper, and Jane several times in quick succession before letting out a soft sigh.

"I suppose if the two of you are going to continue to care for her on our behalf for the foreseeable future…it's important that you know."

He hesitated for a long moment more nonetheless before _finally_ handing the file over to the young woman with a mirthless smile.

"In there you'll find a detailed report of all our observations of Jane's abilities since the incident back in '83.  Also several control studies we've performed over the years, comparisons between other test subjects and Jane's unique blend of special gifts. Names have all been redacted of course, for obvious reasons. But you may just find what you're looking for in there."

Gloria began flipping through the folder silently, Hopper moving to scan it intently over her shoulder. Jane can only wrap both arms around herself protectively, uncomfortable being the subject of so much scrutiny all of a sudden.

_Like a freak._

After a full minute of perusal Gloria and Hopper's gazes both stopped on the very same sentence _at the very same time_. Their eyes flew up from the paper to stare at each other in nothing short of utter disbelief.

In the corner Owens' stress ball is squeezed so tight, it's a wonder it doesn't burst in his pocket.

"What is it?" Jane stepped forward toward her guardians now, forehead crinkling up nervously as she took in their disquietingly _gob smacked_ expressions.

Hopper and Gloria continued to look to each other unwaveringly for another thirty seconds, debating silently between themselves.

Finally, Hopper gulped thickly.

"Jane, you—"

" _There_ you are Dr. Owens!"

Their little group were jarringly interrupted then by a small, pixie-haired red-head suddenly flouncing into the room, thick cork clipboard and royal blue pen in hand.

"Tracy, I told you no interruptions between two and four today. I'm in the middle of a conference." Owens waved at the group before him warily.

"I do apologize, Sir. But Rosenfeld needs you to sign-off on that replanting project down in plot number five. Wants to get started tonight before it rains."

" _Replanting_?" Hopper eyed the pair incredulously. "Dear God, you're not…you're not trying to grow more of those _Mindflayer_ vines are you?"

Owens bleated riotously at that. " _Oh heavens no_ , Chief-o! You can't _possibly_ think me that, stupid. This is just to make sure we don't disturb the local fauna too bad when we start our dig," he explains with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Besides, even if we _wanted_ to spawn more of those things, we couldn't. Every last bit of 'em are ding, dang, dong, _dead_."

Hopper let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.

"Well _that's_ a relief. Don't want anyone else getting death-trapped by those nasty little shits. _Or sprayed in the face_. My Camels tasted funny for days after that. Ugh."

Somewhere behind them a dull thud interrupted their laughter. Hopper turned to see Gloria's purse having fallen on the floor, contents rapidly spilling out (everything from a box of Milkduds to car keys to a small black disc he assumed was her compact). But Gloria didn't seem to notice. Her eyes were the size of saucers now, face whiter than a ghost's, clammy hands shaking like maracas at her sides.

 _Neither Hopper nor Jane could remember a time where she looked_ this _petrified, not even on the 4 th of July…_

"You were…sprayed in the face?"

It takes a good forty seconds for her to get the question out. But Hopper just shrugged it off.

"Yeah…didn't I tell you about that, babydoll?"

" _No._ " The word was sharp and practically accusatory as it rolled off Gloria's tongue. "You told me you went poking around some tunnels one night and managed to get yourself stuck in those strange, alien vines. _Not that any spores got into your system_."

Hopper's face scrunched up puzzledly at her reaction.

"S'no big deal, baby. Owens' team checked me out within hours. There was no trace of anything weird left behind, isn't that right, Doc?"

Owens nodded at her reassuringly. "We were very thorough in our examinations Ms. De Falco, I can assure you."

Gloria just stared at them both incredulously.

"H-how long ago was this?"

Hopper waved a cavalier hand in the air. "Heading into ten months now I guess. Really baby, it's nothing. I haven't had as much as a headcold since."

Gloria swallowed thickly, cradling her chin in her hands, shifting slightly where she stood so they couldn't see the panic threatening to engulf her now.

"How many different tests did you run on him?" She shot over her shoulder at Owens then.

Owens eyed her perplexedly for several more seconds before answering. "Your standard pulmonary function test. Blood tests. Urinalysis. We even ran them all again back in January for good measure."

"And they _all_ came back negative?"

"Yes. Of course." Owens chuckled at her almost patronizingly now. "There was no sign of any lingering contaminates whatsoever. You honestly have nothing to worry about Ms. De Falco, we're really on top of everything here. My team and I know what we're doing."

Gloria continued to stare unblinkingly, tensing her hands back and forth at her sides, her efforts to steady them somehow causing their trembling to escalate ten times worse. 

"What if they're _hiding_?"

"What was that?" Owens was barely paying her any mind now, too busy signing the paperwork his flame haired-assistant was holding up for him obligingly.

" _The spores_ ," she choked it out in a small voice. "What if they're hiding?"

Both Owens and Tracy looked up from the clipboard briefly to stare at Gloria in utter bafflement now.  

"Ex…cuse me?"

Gloria took a deep breath, turning away from the three adults currently eyeing her like she'd suddenly lost her mind. It's here she noticed Jane, the teen's breath coming out in shallow, wispy puffs, her eyes widening in a slow wave of terror as she and her nanny spoke without speaking.

The incessant buzzing surrounding Gloria De Falco's head was finally gone. _Now all that remained was pure, unbridled screaming._

The sound of a sharp burst of static pierced the air as the monitor on Owens' desk began to short out behind him.

"Whoaaaa that hasn't happened in a while. Must be having a power surge. I _told_ Smithy in Station 3 not to draw so much power. The jerk."

Gloria's eyes widened once more, but this time her panicked gaze was directed purely at Jane. She struggled to shake her head virgorously but imperceptibly at the girl.

 _Not yet. Not yet._  

But it was too late.

Suddenly the fluorescent lights all above them began to flicker out one by one, slowly at first but then increasingly quicker until their group was left in total darkness less than a minute later.

"Awww, crap!" Hopper whined pissily. He reached for the lighter in his jacket pocket before remembering he typically kept it in his navy one.

"No need to panic." Owens calm voice rang out in the dark. "I'm sure it's just an experiment gone wonky, happens every now and again. The power should be up and running in a minute or so."

Hopper wiped a sweaty palm over his face.

"Jane, sweetie, you okay kid?" He called out in the dark concernedly.

"I'm fine."

Out of nowhere he felt Jane's hand tuck itself sweetly into his own. If it weren't pitch black now she would have seen his jaw fall open in shock.

He rubbed a gentle thumb over the back of her knuckles soothingly then.

"It's okay now sweetheart, no big deal. Power'll be back up in a minute. Daddy's not gonna let anything happen to you, _you know that Jane_."

The teen said nothing in response, cradling herself up against his side so that her head was now burrowed tightly against his chest.

Hopper swallowed thickly, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him when she needed him most.

Five full minutes passed before he realized that Gloria meanwhile hasn't so much as _breathed_ in his direction for an awfully long while.

"Gloria, baby?" He turned to sound it out in the spot he knew she'd been standing last.

"You feeling okay, babydoll?"

But there was no answer.

"G-gloria?"

"I'm fine." She called out in a small, distant voice then. Hopper wheeled around sharply where he stood.

"Gloria…where are you?!"

"I just…I'm feeling a little whoozy right now. It's no big deal. Give me a minute."

Hopper strained his ears to detect where Gloria's dulcet tones were coming from. How had she gotten so far away from them like that?

He reached over to Owens desk, gingerly feeling out for the softly glowing crystal in the corner, careful not to accidentally prick himself on its underbelly as he held it up to his squinting eyes. 

"Gloria, where the hell did you go?"

He began making his way between the labyrinth of desks, the faint light of the crystal not letting him see much beyond a few inches in front of him. He briefly concerned stabbing himself on purpose just to make the light _brighter_.

"I just had to find myself a chair, hon. It's nothing. I'll be okay in a minute."

Hopper strained his ears, trying to detect where exactly in the room her voice had just sounded. He veered sharply to the right, cursing loudly when he bumped his big toe hard against the edge of one of the lab tables.

"Gloria, just tell me where you are so I can help you."

"Right here."

He gasped as her voice manifested right behind him. Hopper whirled around and could just barely make out the outline of her diamond-shaped face in the neon-green light.   

Hopper sighed in relief. "Baby, you feeling alright? You didn't throw up did you?"

He moved to place a concerned hand on her shoulder then. Gloria just shook her head firmly.

"Nah I just...all the hubbub got to me for a few minutes there, I guess. But I'm fine now. Hope the power comes back soon."

Hopper's brows furrowed sharply (not that she could see it).

"How did you end up all the way over here though?"

Gloria clucked nonchalantly at that. "I uh…I guess I wasn't thinking straight, baby. I swear I was like, ten seconds away from falling onto the floor, so I just took off trying to feel for a chair. Didn't realize I'd wandered off so far in the dark. Sorry, hon."

Her voice faltered slightly on the last word. Without warning Gloria threw herself abruptly into Hopper's chest, wrapping her arms around his middle so tight, it nearly took his breath away.

"You're not afraid of the dark now are you?" He cracked off at her to ease the strange tension in the room now.  "I mean little miss 'I go out all alone in the woods at night' can't seriously be phased by a mere power-out, right?"

Gloria shrugged in his arms. "The woods are _outdoors_ , Jim. You always have the stars to guide you back out there. This is…pitch black. And claustrophobic with all these damn desks. Ugh."

"Everything a-okay over here?" Owens concerned voice reached them from somewhere around the desk on the right-hand corner. "I just walkied the team downstairs; power should be back up any second."

Sure enough, the good doctor had barely gotten the word out when Hopper and Gloria found themselves blinded by the reemergence of dozens of pairs of fluorescent lights above them.

Blinking several times in quick succession to readjust to the sudden brightness, Hopper eyed Gloria up and down with an appraising eye. She smiled at him sweetly, but something about the effort felt entirely forced. Her hands were shaking again and there was worry etched all over her eyes he just wasn't accustomed to from her. _At all_.

Vaguely he thought it might have something to do with what they'd read in Jane's file, his persistent fears of Gloria finding this all just too much to take and bolting from their lives scratching _harshly_ at the back of his skull again.  

Of course…as surprised as she'd clearly been at the revelation, she hadn't seen downright _frightened_ then.

No, that hadn't happened 'til he'd mentioned getting sprayed…

"See, babydoll. Everything's okay." He smiled down at her while pressing a hard kiss to her forehead. "Everything's gonna be just fine."

"I want to go home now." Jane's firm tone emerged suddenly behind them.

Hopper and Gloria turned to eye her softly. She seemed rather put-out just then, but none the worse for wear, though Hopper couldn't help but notice she was staring at him unblinkingly now, as if _searching_ for something.

Hopper shook himself slightly. Perhaps it had been the stress and paranoia associated with taking Gloria to the lab for the first time, but something just felt downright _off_ to him right now. He felt incredibly strange and uncomfortable as he stood there between the two women who mattered to him most.

Hopper cocked a suspicious eyebrow at his daughter before walking up to her.

"Sure, kid. I think we've had enough excitement for one day."

He petted the back of her head fondly, tilting it ever so slightly to check for any signs of the telltale nosebleed that would let him know it'd been _she_ who'd caused this kerfuffle for the sake of acting out.

But her nose was entirely clean, and he couldn't spot a single droplet of crimson liquid on either of her sleeves.

So he let it go.

"Thanks again for everything, Sam." Hopper turned to shake the good doctor's hand one last time before taking off.

"We'll be on our way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopper wasted little time popping himself a Schlitz from the fridge as soon as they stepped through the rickety front door. Downing half of it in a single gulp, he went to veg out in front of the TV while Jane trudged quietly into her room, muttering something about needing a nap.

He flicked throuth the stations for a good five minutes before settling on an episode of "The Facts of Life".

"Hey, Gloria, baby. You like this girly show. Come sit and watch with me _." Let's talk about why you half-lost your mind back at the Lab_ , he added in thought without saying out loud.

Gloria giggled lightly. "I would hon, but I really should start dinner now. I was planning on making us a pot roast tonight and— _oh shit_."

"What's up?" He turned to look up at her with a second swig of his beer.

Gloria's thick head of curly hair popped up from the fridge.

"We're out of beef broth." She pouted at herself in a self-depreciating expression. "I KNEW I forgot to pick something up from _Melvald's_ the other day. _Goddammit_."

"S'no big deal, baby. I can order us a pizza, if you'd like the night off." He waved her off unconcernedly, really hoping she would drop it. _They had waaaaay more important things to be dealing with, right now._

But Gloria just shook her head. "Beef chuck's two days away from going bad. I need to make it tonight, and it won't come out right without the broth."

She unhooked the keys to her minivan from the little rack by the back kitchen door.

"I'll just run off to the store real quick. Be back in three shakes of a lamb's tail."

Hopper leaned over the side of the couch to grab his fiancé by the arm on her way out the door.

"Everything okay with you, sweetie?" He scanned her appraisingly for the second time that day. "We uh…we didn't really get the chance to talk about everything we found out at the Lab today. I know this has all gotta be an awful lot for you."

Gloria considered him for a long moment, and for a second Hopper swore that same look of abject fear began creeping its way slowly up the corners of her eyes. But moments later, her gaze was clear again, and she was smiling brightly at him once more.

"We'll talk about everything after dinner tonight, m'kay hon? _In bed_."

Gloria bent down to nip at his lobe playfully before straightening up and practically _gliding_ her way across the room before he could object any further, blowing a kiss over her shoulder for good measure as she swiftly twirled out the door. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gloria tapped a blood orange fingernail impatiently on the steering wheel, willing the goddamn light on Juniper Hollow parkway to flash from red to green already. When it finally acquiesced to her demands she made a sharp turn into McCormick's Creek Park, driving for several miles, keeping her eyes peeled _every which way_ along the forest.

Finally, a light flashed across her gaze from between the trees. The subtle neon-green glow she'd know _anywhere_ by now. Gloria pulled over to the side of the road quickly, checking out each of the windows and in her back mirror for good measure before setting the car in park. Satisfied no one else could be found on the lonely stretch of parkway, she finally swung herself out of minivan, practically _sprinting_ to the source of iridescent light peeking out at her between the clusters of towering oaks and sequoias.

Within minutes she found herself stumbling onto a jet black motorcycle with gold, spray-painted rims, and a figure clad in a slick leather jacket and matching biker helmet.

Gloria smiled wide; the first genuine smile she'd actually meant in days as the man in turn took off his helmet to greet her, brushing his slick raven hair out of those piercing, coppery eyes in the process.

"Hiya, Sweets. What's shaking?"

Without saying a word, Gloria reached into her purse, yanking out a small, rectangular disc and smiling like the cat who ate the canary.

D.P. lit up like a brand new light bulb at the sight.

"You did it? You _really_ pulled it off in one go?"

"You better believe I did, Portales."

He let out a long, low breath before adding for good measure, "You're _sure_ you copied every last file in their database? You double checked you didn't miss anything?"

"Yyyup," she breathed out at him with a cocky smirk. 

D.P. crowed so loud he sent several _actual_ black birds squawking angrily out of the wood. Making his way over to her, he grabbed Gloria tightly around the middle, pulling her in for a long, lingering kiss like he'd been waiting to do for three interminable months.

"I _knew_ you'd come through for me, Sweets. _You always do_."

He lifted her up off the ground with a surprised squeal, spinning her around in the air while she giggled down at him wildly.

"You realize what this means right?" D.P. mumbled excitedly before setting her back down on solid Earth. "All the dough the Feds have poured into that place the last two years? _We're talking tens of millions, Sweets._ Our biggest score yet!"

"Mmhmm," she beamd up warmly at him, far more satisfied by his own happiness than the thought of the money itself. "We'll never have to worry about where our next meal's coming from ever again. _For as long as we live_."

D.P. shook his head at her elatedly, that trademark wolfish grin taking over his face as he drew close to her once more.

" _And then when we're done bleeding the bastards dry_ , we'll make 'em dance on _our_ strings for as long as we _fucking want_ , baby," he whispered breathily into her mouth before leaning down to capture it with his own for a second time.  

Something distant and sad emerged in Gloria's eyes as D.P. pulled away from her, striking enough that he clocked it almost immediately.

"What is it?" He asked her with a slightly raised brow.  

She wrested herself gently from his grasp then, folding her arms around herself protectively as she walked several paces away, back turned to him, not wanting to see the look of disappointment in his face.

"There are… _complications_ ," she breathed out quietly. "A potential roadblock...and something else, something I hadn't foreseen. Something Jim mentioned in passing to Smartass McFuckWad down at the Lab."

D.P. bristled at the sound of Hopper's name. "What is it?"

Gloria sighed.

"Well for one thing…those meddling sons of bitches are going to be invading every last patch of forest in Hawkins soon, digging up as many of the crystals as they can find. That leaves the kids and me _a very small window_ to finish looking for Them."

D.P. waved off the information unconcernedly.

"Alright, so…you put the heat on the little brats to go harder and faster. You _said_ you'd already covered most of the wood out here anyway. Just…pull something out of your ass to get them alone with you more often. I'm sure Barnaby Jones and that Byers woman we'll be grateful to you for getting them out of their hair. If anyone can pull it off, _you can,_ Sweets."

Gloria hesitated, rubbing her temple between her thumb and forefinger before speaking up again.

"There's more…" she began, not looking at him at all now. "When Nyarlathotep dug that tunnel system beneath the town, Hopper…Hopper accidentally got trapped down there in all the vines."

"Yeah, we pulled that little nugget from those files in the trailer. Tell me something I don't know."

Gloria gulped. "What you don't know is…what he never bothered to record for _God_ only knows what reason is that… _one of the Gatling Growths sprayed him in the face, D.P._ "

She looked up at him with grave eyes now, but Dante just fixed her with a blank, disbelieving stare before rolling his own heavily at her.

"Awwwww fuck it all to hell, Sweets. Sometimes I forget just how _goddamn soft_ you are." He shook his head at her wearily now. Gloria just glared back at him like he'd sprouted two heads.

"Listen, kid…I'm sure this must be stirring up all kinds of _terribly painful_ memories for you. And I'm sorry for that, I really really am," something _cold_ and _mocking_ in his voice told her he _really really_ wasn't at all, " _but this is nothing like what happened six years ago._ Go have a nice long chat with your therapist about the dangers of transference if you need to. But you are NOT blowing up the plan now over your summer boy toy, you hear me? _I forbid it_."

Gloria swallowed hard, face practically crumbling in on itself now. "Dante…you _know_ what's going to happen…" it took all the effort she possessed just to choke out the sentence, "… _you KNOW what horror he'll have to endure_ …" the words come out more strongly now, but they're manic and hysterical, and as Gloria fights to submerge the mix of sobs and bile bubbling up from her throat, she seems to lose her presence of mind entirely as she starts muttering so low, it's almost unintelligible, "… _you, you saw what he looked like at the end, when we buried him_ —"

"What did I just say about transference, Sweets!" D.P. threw his hands in the air exasperatedly, utterly unmoved by the meltdown she's clearly having in front of him. "Seriously, you need to cut it out with the melodrama and _get a fucking grip on yourself_. This has nothing to do with what happened to—"

"D.P., PLEASE!" She's screeching at him at the top of her lungs now, but she doesn't care. _Let him say whatever he wants about her. She can't let it happen again…not under her watch…no…she swore it wouldn't…not ever again…it can't…it won't._

"D.P., _please…_ we HAVE to do something—"

" _We?!_ " D.P. regarded her incredulously now. "What 'we', Sweets? You really think I give two shits about helping the guy you're currently porking for the job? The sooner he croaks, the better as far as I'm concerned."

Her mouth full-on fell open at that. "What _happened_ to you, D.P.?" She shook her head at him in sheer disbelief. "You can't _possibly_ be so cold."

"And you can't possibly be so _stupid_!" He bit back at her furiously. "This would be the PERFECT way for things to wrap-up for us, baby. Guy dies in a couple of months, he won't be able to try and track us. The less heat on our tails, the better off we'd be. No repeats of what happened back in Olympia, or L.A. It'd be _smooth sailing_ for once Sweets, but ohhh nooo. You just can't let that happen. Always gotta screw things up somehow with your _histrionic bullshit_."

He stomped right up to her so that their faces were mere inches apart, wagging an accusatory finger back and forth all the while.

Gloria closed her eyes tightly.

" _You of all people_ should know why I _can't_ just walk away from this, D.P.!" She bit it out so viciously low through her clenched teeth, it almost sounded like a _growl_.  

D.P. shook his head, peeling himself away from her and pacing back and forth between the trees, whispering to himself madly.

"I fucking KNEW you were falling for him." He mumbled it loud enough for her to hear. "I fucking knew it! _Every single time_ I'd tail you two, you'd be draping yourself all over him. Laughing like a teenage girl, making googley eyes every other minute. Just like with that shitstain back in L.A."

"This isn't anything like that," Gloria uttered in a quiet voice, wishing she were anywhere but there.

"No, you're right. _It's a hundred times worse_. 'Cause you walked away from that one when things got too dangerous. But now, fuck man. _You are smitten_."

Her eyes slid to the forest floor now, knowing she could deny it all the damn day long but he wouldn't believe her. _Not when she herself couldn't._

"So how's this gonna work, huh?" He gestured to the pear-shaped diamond sitting atop her left ring finger with a bitter scowl. "You gonna marry him and play 'mommy' to that little circus freak for the next four, five years?"

Gloria's eyes grew entirely wild at that, stomping over and slapping D.P. so hard across the face, he nearly stumbled into a nearby tree.

"Don't you DARE talk about her like that! _EVER!"_

She screamed it so loud at him, they both thought they heard a deer bolt off like mad from a nearby bush in the other direction.

D.P. blanched hard at her reaction, struggling for a good several seconds to straighten himself up, but once he had the look of utter shock quickly morphed into that mocking grin she'd wanted to punch off his face the _first_ time they'd met.

"You really haven't changed at all, Sweets." He shook his head at her sardonically. "Not really. You strut around in those $100 cowgirl boots  _like some fucking bigshot,_ 'cause you're smart and _you_ _know things_ and you're good at getting whatever you like 'cause all the boys wanna fuck you. But the truth is, you're nothing more than that same uppity little child who walked into my office nine years ago. You just got better at the theatrics. Well guess what Sweets: _I'm done playing your little games_."

"… _D.P._ ," the furor permeating her countenance mere moments before transformed instantly into one of full-blown panic, as she began shaking her head back and forth pleadingly now. "D.P., please, I'm so so sorry, I—"

"Nah. Forget it. Stay with 'em. Play nurse, play housewife. _Play whatever you want to now_. I'm done waiting around for your skinny ass like some lost little puppy. I got what I wanted," he held up the disc with a vicious smirk, " _we're done now_."

Gloria felt as though all the breath had been stolen from her as fresh tears began to pool over the old along her cheeks

"D.P., don't… _don't leave_. Please, let's just talk this out, if you could just _try_ _and listen_ —"

"Oh, I think I've heard more than enough, Sweets. Good luck with Barnaby and the mutant; _you're gonna need it_."

He marched over to his motorcycle then, cramming his helmet back down hard on his head and taking off at the roar of the motor without so much as a cursory look back.

"D.P.! D.P.! PLEASE!"

Gloria chased him down the road for a full block screaming out his name, but to no avail. Eventually she just ended up collapsing in the middle of the road, sobbing her eyes out on the cold, concrete freeway.

_This is what happens when you give up control…you silly, stupid, backwards little child._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One, two, three—say it with me now—POOOOOOOOORRRRRR GLOOOOOORIAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Also, poor Hopper *shudders*. And Jane. And Max. And while we're at it, the D.L.F.s…boy I sure do love putting my characters through the ringer, what the hell is wrong with me? Why do I feed off the pain of my children? Maybe I need help…*continues muttering to herself darkly*
> 
> ANYWAY--if you haven't already, go check out my WLB Aesthetics Board and Playlist--I add a ton of new goodies to them every time I post a chapter (and sometimes in-between updates as well). 
> 
> Aesthetics Board: --> https://www.pinterest.com/victoriael89/what-lies-beneath/?eq=what%20lies&etslf=3687  
> Playlist: --> https://open.spotify.com/user/n11lr9pqs1mi4zxsaf3c4mbka/playlist/0x8z6aICNS6uj51ESLJiZC


	15. Black Holes and Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "What's this?!" you may ask, "ANOTHER update to WLB in the course of two weeks? After HOW MANY three-month-long hiatuses we've had to endure?" Bitch, it might be.
> 
> P.S. To people who've been following this fic for a while—there's a revelation made at the end of the chapter which may very well appear like art imitating life, but I actually had this planned long before certain events in my personal life transpired over the past year. I thought briefly about changing things up but, the story just doesn't 'work' as well without it present in the overall dynamic. 
> 
> ANYWAY—onto the show now ladies and…lbh probably more ladies ;)

It was a good forty-five minutes later before Gloria finally managed to peel herself off the cold, gray concrete of the Juniper Hollow parkway. And even then it was only because a passing rainstorm had started to pour over the road in thick, fat droplets, intermingling with the mix of dirt and bile that'd already gone and ruined her favorite sundress.

As she stumbled dizzily back to the minivan it occurred to Gloria that if she showed back up to the cabin looking the way she did, Hopper would probably assume she'd been mugged (or worse) and _completely_ lose his shit, no matter what bullshit story she attempted to sell him. So she steeled herself for the trafficky drive downtown to Starcourt Mall, (miraculously) resisting the urge to plow her car head-on into a telephone pole along the way. Within fifteen minutes of strolling through the first boutique she could find, Gloria actually managed to zero in on a fairly close match to the mint green cotton frock she was currently donning, even in spite of the obtrusive stares and gossipy whispers of the other shoppers at her drowned rat appearance. 

 _The opinions of strangers don't matter_ , Gloria told herself firmly as she handed over sixty dollars in cash to the snooty cashier looking down her pointed, ugly schnoz at her. _You've endured_ far worse _ridicule in your life. And you're never going to see any of these busybody baccalàs_ _ever again. Who cares what they think? Screw 'em. Screw the whole goddamn world for that matter. Screw D.P., the selfish, greedy, ungrateful motherfucker._

Gloria chewed the tip of her tongue so hard as she trudged her way through the crowded mall parking lot, she ended up smearing a good five or six droplets of blood along the roof of her mouth.

 _Screw Jim Hopper for messing up her life, her relationship, all her carefully laid plans,_ everything she had going for her. _What a careless, arrogant horse's ass, to go picking a fight with Nyar-friggin'-lathotep and think he'd gotten out unscathed? The stupid bastard…how_ dare he _end up putting his life on_ her _conscience? How dare he make her THAT invested in him?_

She pinched herself hard on the knee with her free hand, desperate to keep away the angry tears threatening to freefall all over again as her thoughts spiraled deeper and deeper through the depths of a hopeless furor.

 _How DARE he go out of his way to make her fall in love with him? As if she hadn't known what he'd been trying to do…as if she couldn't see plain as day when he started showing up at her house with flowers and candy and all that nauseating, pseudo-romantic crap what he'd been angling for. Wasn't enough for him to get to fuck her whenever he liked, ohhh nooo. What'd been just_ frickin' fine and dandy _for all the others would never be enough for him; he HAD to have her love on top of everything else. Had to be so silly and charming and passionate and protective and everything she just couldn't resist falling in love_ back with _, didn't he?_

 _What a ridiculous, foolish,_ pathetically needy _thing for him to go and do. How dare he do that to her, to Jane, to HIMSELF???! Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot…._

Gloria repeated the word in her head like a mantra over and over again as she drove around town, looking for a gym or a motel or ANYWHERE at all she could get a halfway decent shower before making the return trip home. Somehow she found it significantly less helpful keeping her mind on track than she'd hoped it'd be.

Ruminating in the thralls of her bitterness she recalled one night Hopper had been lying with her in her hospital bed following the 4th of July incident. He'd thought her asleep and began whispering to himself over and over about what a giant black hole of a human being he was, sucking in and annihilating everything he came to care for. He'd honestly felt _so guilty_ about what'd happened at the party, so upset with _himself_ for not staging an intervention sooner, he'd actually shouldered the blame for her nearly dying, the ludicrously noble fool. 

At the time Gloria had chalked it all up as nothing more than a simple overreaction to the trauma of the incident. Especially in light of what had happened to his _daughter_ , it'd only be natural for those feelings to transfer onto her, for an overwhelming sense of guilt to rear its ugly head again, however misplaced.

But now? Now Gloria was beginning to see he'd been right all along. He really WAS a black hole, yanking her entirely out of orbit, exerting all of his power to suck her into himself beyond all hope of escape.

And the very worst part? Even now, she had to admit, some part of her had really _wanted_ to get sucked in all along. That D.P. had been right in each and every accusation he'd leveled against her—that the painfully naïve little girl in her was secretly _thrilled_ this had happened, had gladly succumbed to the draw of the wormhole because it had meant the illusion of a family again on the other side.

Because it meant the illusion of _goodness_ again.

Gloria shook her head firmly. _Yeah, well, out the door goes your sweet little family and your shiny sense of GOODNESS if he ups and dies in a couple of months._ If you fail to save him, just like you failed to save _—_

The ugly thought was mercifully jarred away from her as she managed to spot the slowly revolving sign for the _Blue Moon Health Spa_ twirling high in the air off the corner of Tigelaar Street. It didn't take much more than a flirty wink and giggle or two to get the muscle-bound receptionist with the Burt Reynolds mustache to overlook her haggard appearance and hand over the key to the Gold Star Members' bathroom. She tried not to let the irony of what D.P. had thrown in her face not hours before about 'getting whatever she like from men' ruin the mercifully soothing sensation of the piping hot shower spray washing off the remains of the day.

" _Listen to the wind blow…watch the sun rise_ ", she crooned it to herself while finger-combing some vaguely pomegranate-smelling conditioner into her long autumn locks. " _Running in the shadows, damn your love damn your lies_." She quickly wrapped herself in the biggest, fluffiest towel she'd managed to fish out of the adjacent linen closet upon turning off the spray and exposing herself to the chill of the overly air-conditioned ladies' room.

" _And if you don't love me now, you will never love me again…_ " As she began pulling on her brand new dress, Gloria vaguely wondered whether D.P. would have the guts to blackmail HNL now. _Now that she wasn't there to help him beg and cheat and steal his way 'cross country once the government suits put the heat on him again._ Somehow the image of the stupid shit being carted off to the _Terre Haute Penitentiary_ in handcuffs didn't bring her nearly as much satisfaction as she wished it could just then.   

 _"And I can still hear you saying, you would never break the chain_." It occurred to her once she'd finished reapplying rouge to the apples of her cheeks what D.P. leaving her high and dry really meant for her going forward. Without him, she had no hope whatsoever pulling off the New Mexico job, and that'd been the Big One, after all. _Their White Whale_. But there was no point even setting eyes on it now.

Now, only two things in her life really mattered: saving her friends, and _saving the man she loved_. And then…she'd be free. Free from all the sins borne of her vanity, free of her need to atone for them.  Free to make whatever she wanted of herself, to go wherever she pleased…or even stay.  

_Free to stay and play the happy little housewife, just like D.P. had said…_

_…assuming Jane didn't blow her head off before she even made it down the aisle._

_"Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night. Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies. Break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light. And if you don't love me now, you will NEVER love me again. And I can still hear you saying…"_ Gloria paused briefly here to rim her slightly parted mouth with blood-red lipstick, "… _you would never break the chain."_

She capped it off with a small 'pop' to help blot the color evenly across the fleshy folds of her lips. Smiling contentedly at her reflection, Gloria reminded herself that this had hardly been the first time her life had shifted at the drop of a dime. She'd learned to go with the flow then, to leave everything behind in order to set (what little was left) of her world right.

What a lovely thing it would be now…to fix something she had no fault in to start with? To go out of her way to save the life of a genuinely good man? A _hero_ , even.

A father.

Gloria didn't even bother batting her lashes one last time at the Mustache trying so hard to catch her eye again as she breezed right past the reception desk and straight out to the spa parking lot.  

Perhaps, if she actually managed to succeed in saving him, her could-be step-daughter would find it in her heart to _forgive her_ for weaving them all into her little web of lies this summer. Maybe then her goodness, her _worthiness_ of Jane and Hopper wouldn't be such an illusion anymore.

The grin dancing around the corners of her lips dimpled even wider now as she pulled back out onto the freeway.

And then maybe, just maybe… _their family wouldn't be either._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight had begun to settle over Hawkins in a pastel, lavender sort of glow when Gloria finally made it back to the cabin, _Melvald's_ grocery bag in hand, made-up story about blowing a tire on the freeway expertly rehearsed. Her fabricated excuses turned out to be unneeded after all though, for as soon as she walked through the door the first thing her hazel eyes fell upon was the man she loved, passed out cold on the couch in front of the TV, empty beer can rolling around his ever-so-slightly twitching fingers on the floor below.

"Right where I left you." Gloria smiled to herself as she tiptoed noiselessly into the kitchen to empty out the contents of her grocery bag. 

"You were gone an awful long time."

She whipped around instantly to find Jane, arms folded, observing her unwaveringly from the confines of her room. Whether it was annoyance or mere contemplation that marked the teen's gaze, Gloria couldn't really tell.

"Your boyfriend happy?"

Gloria let out a long low sigh, turning from her charge's sharp stare without a word of acknowledgement, far too tired to contend with more anger and disappointment from someone she cared for immensely just then.

But something about her refusal to take the bait made the veneer of hatred collapse completely.

"Something's really wrong, isn't it?"

The words weren't angry or accusatory now. No…now there was nothing but sheer fear. _And panic_.

Gloria swallowed hard, flashing one cursory look back towards the couch to make sure Hopper was still thoroughly knocked out. Raising a thin, pale finger to her lips, she made her way over to where the teen stood peering up at her anxiously and, shooing her further into the room, entered silently behind her.

"I saw the way you freaked out when they mentioned my Dad getting spored," Jane began again the instant Gloria had turned to bolt the door. "I FELT how scared you were…how scared you are now."

Something in the way the girl's lower lip trembled as she said it made Gloria yearn to go wrap her arms around her, if only she could be sure Jane wouldn't mentally shove her out the window if she tried. 

"You NEED to tell me the truth… _does this mean something bad_?"

Gloria hesitated for several long moments, weighing her words carefully. "It _could_ ," she finally admitted in a small, raspy voice.

Jane gulped.

"But there _might_ be a way around it, if we play our cards right." The older woman folded her own arms pensively now. Thinking. Plotting. _Scheming._

"It'll mean me sticking around longer than we planned, though. To make…sure."

Jane tilted her head uncertainly. "Make…sure?"

Gloria nodded, pacing the length of the room now as a plan began forming inside her head. "First things first: we'll need more crystals. _Lots of 'em_. My supply's running much too low as it is."

Jane glared at her through narrowed eyes as she worked to divine her meaning.

"We can't be sure They'd help him," she bit out at her nanny with an angry scowl. "You said it yourself—this whole thing's taking so long cause They don't trust you enough to come when we call Them. You can't be sure They'll do anything to help you and if we wait too long—"

" _That's not what I was thinking_!" Gloria snapped back at Jane with such acidity the younger girl actually winced.

Gloria shook herself firmly before adding much more calmly now, "Look, I just… _need you to take my word on this_. We have to collect as many crystals as we can if we have any shot at helping your Dad."

"But you heard what Owens said. Him and his men are gonna dig 'em all up before people around town start to notice and get hurt."

The older woman smiled dryly. "So we're going to need _a little army of our own_ to fish some out before those bastards can take 'em all for themselves, _aren't we?_ "

She arched an eyebrow significantly here, and it didn't take much longer for Jane to put it all together.

"What am I supposed to say to get them to help?"

Gloria shrugged. "I'll make up some bullshit story for you, don't worry about it. And you'll have Will to back you up too; I'm sure he'll do whatever he can once we tell him."

Jane began attacking her lower lip furiously now, fingers fidgeting with themselves manically as she struggled to blurt out her own revelation. "It wasn't just my Dad you know," she finally began again in a small, desperate voice. " _Dustin got spored too_. Back when the demodogs were attacking the town last year."

Gloria inhaled sharply, and for a long moment it appeared to the girl as if her nanny had frozen solid where she stood. "The… _Henderson_ _boy_?" She wheezed nearly half a minute later with eyes as wide as saucers. "Dear, God." Gloria started pacing frantically around the room again, hands gripping at the sides of her skull in disbelief. "Shit. _Shit shit shit shit shit_."

Her perfect curls were quickly becoming crumpled beneath her rapidly flexing fingertips before she finally let them go with a small shake of the head.  

"We'll just need to find a way to dose them both, then," she muttered it to herself more than Jane, "I'll have to come up with some excuse to get him over here more often. Maybe I can talk Jim into letting you kids play D&D in the backyard every other night. _It's the only way_."

"Dose them with what?"

Gloria's arms collapsed to her sides with twin thuds. She blew out a small sigh before turning back to fix Jane with a wry smile.

" _Fairy dust_."

Jane's expression was entirely bewildered now. "What? What are you—"

"Just leave it to me," the older woman insisted firmly. "You get me those crystals…we may have a shot at saving them both. You think you can handle that?"

Jane swallowed thickly but ended up nodding in affirmation all the same.

Gloria whetted her lips for a long moment now, pausing to consider the girl as though she was really only seeing her for the very first time that evening. Between the older woman's unblinking sandalwood stare, and a sudden distortion in the monotonous drone that typically surrounded her (in her head, Jane could only compare the newfound sensation to an image of Max whacking her ping pong ball _mercilessly_ against a brick wall), the teen knew her nanny was warring with herself over something crucial. Somehow the knowledge made Jane _even more_ anxious than she'd thought humanly possible given the circumstances.

Nearly a full minute passed before Gloria at long last nodded decisively to herself, the distortion beginning to dissipate (whether this made the oppressive black aura ceaselessly projecting from her any easier to take, Jane honestly couldn't be sure), as she finally spoke up again, "In the meantime though. You should take a look at these."

She moved to reach within the confines of her purse now, fishing out two slightly yellowing papers from somewhere deep inside the crocodile skin folds.

Jane's eyes narrowed instantly in recognition.  "Those are from my file?"

"Yes."

"You…stole them when I turned the lights out?"

Gloria nodded again slowly as she held out both pages for the girl to take. Jane wasted no time yanking them quickly out of her grasp while lifting utterly perplexed eyes to the older woman now.

"Why would you—?"

"I may be a monster, Jane," she conceded to the girl solemnly, "but I will NEVER, EVER be as monstrous as people like them." Gloria jerked her head sharply towards the "Hawkins National Laboratory" logo typed up in big bold lettering at the top of each file.

She left the room without another word then, leaving the teen to begin leafing furiously through the pilfered notes, her eyes growing wider and wider all the time until she made it around half-way through the second page, where her breath good and stilled in her throat completely.

_Whoa._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back out in the cabin's make-shift television room, Hopper was about to go for hour four conked out on the moth-eaten couch, when the feel of a cool, marble-smooth hand against his forehead effectively broke him from his all-consuming REM. The sleep-induced fog clouding his newly awakened brain was cleared off in a heartbeat as lips soft and silky as cream began planting a trail of kisses up and down the length of his cheek.

"Wake upppppp," a gently lilting voice whispered adoringly into his ear, before that crimson velvet mouth began pressing itself onto his temple.

Hopper hummed contentedly at her where he lay. Finally alert enough to peek open those cobalt blue eyes, he found himself grinning up into the pale, diamond-shaped face of his fiancé gazing back down at him dreamily.

"Hiya, tiger," she whispered with a sly wink, reaching over to smooth a hand through his sleep-tousled hair.

"Hey yourself, gorgeous." Hopper moved to take her hand in his own then, stroking her lithe little fingers between his thick, meaty ones for several long seconds before his gaze flickered to the window behind her. His eyebrows shot up somewhat surprisedly as he realized it was now thoroughly pitch black outside.

"What time is it?" he muttered at Gloria hoarsely, struggling to wipe the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his knuckles. 

"A little after nine. You and Jane were both so knocked out I just didn't have it in me to wake either of you for dinner. I made myself a little bit of soup with the beef broth though—there's leftovers if you're up for a nosh. And here's some coffee if you're still a little groggy."

Hopper groaned at her appreciatively. "You, babydoll, are a _lifesaver_."

He took the mug full of steaming hot java from her with a grateful smile, taking a nice long swig out of the cup to wake himself up thoroughly."

"Hmmm," he purred out through slightly narrowed eyes. "This tastes a little different."

Gloria's brow arched somewhat at that. "Bad different or..?"

"Nah just…different. This Folgers?"

Gloria nodded hastily. "It's probably the milk. They were out of regular Lactaid at _Melvald's_ so I had to settle for the two percent." She shrugged apologetically at that. Hopper waved it off unconcernedly before indulging in another sip.

"So…uh…you ready to talk about what happened earlier today?"

Gloria's expression immediately turned grim.

"What specifically? Jane's file? Or your little 'incident' down in the tunnels last year?"

Hopper sighed. "Well first things first: which one of those made you freak out when the power went off? Or was it _both_ of them?"

He eyed her appraisingly here, searching for any sign at all of a breaking point finally being breached.  But Gloria appeared neither scared nor overwhelmed now. Now she just seemed strangely… _sad_.  

She took a short breath before moving to take the seat next to him on the dark umber sofa. After several long moments of silent contemplation Gloria turned to look him in the eye, reaching out to softly stroke the thick brushes of his beard between those tiny, dove-like fingers.

"Honestly I…I guess I'm just worried. Not for me, _for you_. And Jane. Both of you. Where all of this is going to lead." She stared at him pensively as she said it, willing him to try and understand (however barely he really could).

Hopper nodded slowly at that. "Well, look babydoll: _Owens told you himself I'm perfectly alright_. I think if I were on my way out he'd have picked up on some sort of sign by now. You got nothing to worry about when it comes to ol' Chief Hopper. I got no intention of buying the farm just yet." He winked at her slyly here, trying to cajole a smile, but her mouth simply formed itself into a hard line at the statement, though she did manage a small nod as if in acceptance.  

"As for Jane," his expression grew significantly more serious now. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried too. But…I was going over it on the drive back here: _that file was honestly good news for us if you really think about it, babydoll. I mean, that other kid only managed to pull it off the _one time_ , and they were like, what, twenty-five, twenty-six? That gives us a nice long while before we even have to worry about Jane working out how to do it. Hopefully by then Owens will come up with a plan to make things more controllable."_

__

The corners of Gloria's lips turned down sharply at that. "Kinda sucks that she'll always be at the mercy of that place though, isn't it? I mean, Owens is decent enough, I guess," she admitted with a slightly bitter edge to her voice that didn't entirely escape Hopper's notice. "But still…having to rely her whole life on the same people who destroyed her mother? Who robbed her of _any_ semblance of a childhood? I just," Gloria closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

__

Hopper nodded gravely before wrapping a large, comforting arm around her. They sat cuddled together for several long minutes in consoling silence before Gloria finally found the will to pipe up again.

__

"Are you planning on having that discussion with her?"

__

Hopper began to shift somewhat where he sat. That was the one question he knew he'd inevitably have to face tonight, but wished to avoid at all costs.

__

"You know she's going to ask you at some point. She _saw_ our reaction, Jim."

__

Hopper shut his eyes tightly at that, breathing harshly through his nose. "I just…I want her to have as normal a childhood as she can, babe. And this…piling on all these future problems, when we don't even know right now if they'll ever really manifest. It just feels like putting more of a burden on her than honestly need be."

__

She stared at him for several long, uncomfortable moments before nodding agreeably, fingers rubbing roughly at the bridge of her nose all the while.

__

"Still Jim," Gloria attempted once more, unsure herself why she was arguing a point she'd already made entirely moot. _And what was one more little lie atop the mountain of deceits she'd erected between them, after all? A barrier that'd always have to be there, no matter how long they lived…how long she_ stayed. "…This _is_ a part of her, whether you like it or not. Shouldn't she have the right to know?"

__

Hopper's eyebrows knitted together at that. "Eventually, yeah. But right now…I just think it's best to wait. I'll tell her it's something she's too young to understand…that excuse always worked wonders on me as a kid, trust me." He capped the last sentence off with a small chuckle, but somehow Gloria couldn't find it in herself to reciprocate.

__

"And," she began again a few moments later, "you're _sure_ you don't feel any differently? Since being sprayed by the… _thing_ , down in the tunnel?"

__

Hopper full-on brayed at her now. "YES, babydoll! _For the millionth time, yes_! I swear. I'm…perfectly fine and good and healthy for an overweight, middle-age drunk with an over-dependence on pharmaceuticals."

__

Gloria forced out a small chortle of her own at his candor. "I just…" She stared helplessly at her hands now, searching for the right words to say, but ultimately the only ones that truly mattered came out. "…I really love you, Jim."

__

She turned in her seat to look him dead in the eye as she said it.

__

Hopper beamed adoringly at her. "I know you do, babydoll," he leaned over to plant a soft little peck on those rose petal lips as he said it.

__

"I _know_ you know," she retorted with a playful smirk. "But it…it's one thing to _say_ it. It's another for the meaning to really get across, ya know?" She ghosted a gentle hand against his left knee beside her, squeezing slightly. "If anything ever happened to you…I—" She hesitated once more, eyes narrowing sharply as the words pouring out of her tongue were as much a revelation to her as they were about to be to Hopper, "— _I really don't think I could handle it_ , Jim. Having to watch you die, not being able to do anything to help you…I really think I might just lock myself in the bathroom with one of your pill bottles and never come out again," she admitted with a small hitch in her throat.

__

"Hey now, c'mon, don't you talk like that." Hopper pulled her into his body tight, kissing her forehead fiercely. "Everything's going to be just fine. I've weathered A LOT of crazy shit these past two years. I ain't planning on checking out on you and Jane any time soon. Don't you think on it anymore, love."

__

He tucked two fingers beneath her pointed chin, forcing those sad, downcast eyes to meet his own head-on then.

__

"Everything. Is. Fine."

__

He reached over to place a kiss on her right eyelid, then shifted slightly to do the same to its twin. Gloria sighed contentedly at the contact, and when he moved to press his lips to the tip of her nose, she reached her mouth up in its place to capture his own in a deep, longing embrace.

__

"Nobody's ever loved me like you, Jim." It came out as a breathy moan in-between kisses. "Nobody's _ever_ been good to me like you. All the other men they, they always end up treating me as a plaything or a joke. _But not you_. You've always looked out for me. Always had my back, no matter what. I…I don't deserve you. I never will, no matter how hard I try. But I love you. I do."

__

She pushed Hopper back hard into the couch now, lips moving down from his own to suck at that particular spot on his neck she knew was especially tender for him. And all the way grinding the lower half of herself into his body so hard he nearly cum where he lay.

__

Hopper moaned hard. "Gloria, baby, what's gotten into yo—"

__

"I love you." She simply said it again, as though she couldn't get enough of saying it. "I love you, I love you, I love you so much." Gloria carelessly ripped open his button-down shirt now, mouthing scorching hot kisses with those ravenous lips up the length of his steadily heaving chest.

__

"Oh, God."

__

Hopper moved to flip her over on the sofa then, standing up quickly and scooping her svelte little figure up into his arms without a word, earning him a startled little 'squeak' in the process.

__

"Not out here. Jane will hear us," he explained with a slight waggle of the eyebrows.

__

He carried her bridal style down the hall then, kicking open the bedroom door with his foot and bouncing her roughly onto his king-size as soon as they were through.

__

Gloria sat back up again almost immediately, greedy fingers outstretched to undo her beau's shiny silver belt buckle. But Hopper just grabbed both her wrists in his hands, shoving her full-body back down onto the mattress with a cocky-as-all-hell grin on his face.

__

"Not yet, babydoll. _I want this to last_." He nipped at her nose with his front teeth playfully before leaning down to whisper further in her ear, "Now take off that cute little dress so Daddy can suck on those gorgeous tits."

__

Hopper relinquished his tight grip on her arms then. Wasting no time acquiescing to his request, Gloria began wiggling the pale green sundress off and over her head, revealing a tantalizingly skimpy La Perla bra and matching set of panties she'd ALSO treated herself to earlier at the boutique (hey, it was all on D.P.'s dime anyway, so why the hell not?).

__

"Hmmm." Hopper began mouthing her tear-shaped tits through the satiny soft cups of her brassiere, dipping his tongue here and there to taste the sweat-slicked space between her breasts for good measure. Making her moan, _driving her wild_.

__

"Take it off already, Daddy. _Pleaaaaaase_ ," Gloria begged him with a throaty whine, all the while _squirming and writhing_ with building impatience underneath him.

__

Hopper licked at the upper arch of her right tit one last time before granting her request, reaching swiftly behind her and snapping the bra off in one expert stroke before tossing it over the side of the bed. Moving to grip both breasts together tightly in his large, meaty hands, Hopper bent his head over her once more, suckling and nibbling and _biting_ at her cherry-pink nipples over and over again like they were the most delicious things on God's good earth.

__

Gloria threw her head back hard into the mattress as she gave herself over to complete ecstasy now. "Oh yes, Daddy. Keep on doing that; baby _loves_ it. Oh yessssssssss."

__

She began grinding again along his fully-erect cock, still trapped within the confines of his trousers, making him groan slightly as he continued to swirl his tongue back and forth between both breasts.

__

Finally it was all too much for the pair of them to take. Positioning himself firmly between her legs now, Hopper waited with growing consternation as Gloria _cruelly_ inched her fingers along his belt buckle at a snail's pace, peering up at him with a slightly quirked eyebrow as though _daring_ him to make her hurry the hell up.

__

Hopper grinned to himself wickedly. _Little girl was just BEGGING for a spanking now, wasn't she?_

__

Well, who was he not to oblige?

__

As soon as she FINALLY got his pants down and off him Hopper wasted no time flipping Gloria onto her belly without so much as a cursory word of warning, earning a surprised 'yelp' he sincerely hoped Jane hadn't heard from the other end of the hall. Arching himself down and over her much smaller frame, Hopper paused only when he was mere inches from her right ear.

__

"Apologize to Daddy for being a naughty little tease."

__

Without even being able to see her face, Hopper knew Gloria was smirking cheekily into her pillow now.

__

"Fat chance, _Daddy_."

__

Hopper snorted hard into her ear. "Wrong answer, little girl."

__

He landed a hard whack against the right-hand side of her ass now, making her squeal out loud in shocked delight where she lay.  

__

"Let's try this again," he whispered once more as his left hand wrapped itself around her middle now, inching closer and closer to her steadily swelling clit. " _Say you're sorry_."

__

Gloria turned slightly so that her mouth was mere inches from his own.

__

" _Make me_ ," she bit back with a harsh nip at his lower lip. 

__

"Ohhhooo," Hopper grunted out at her through clenched teeth. " _You're gonna get it now, bitch_."

__

Gripping her cunt firmly in his left palm now, he lifted her lower half high in the air, slapping her ass with his right hand over and over again while pulsating her now completely engorged clit with its twin.

__

"OH GOD!" Gloria bit down hard into the mattress to keep her screams from reaching inappropriate levels of loudness for a house with a teenage girl. She couldn't control all the little whines and moans bubbling out of her throat at every _merciless_ stroke of Hopper's hands on her pussy and ass though, much to her fiancè's fiendish delectation.  

__

"Say you're sorry if you want me to stop." He warned her for the final time as her ass cheeks began to turn a decidedly _rosy_ shade of pink now.

__

"S-sorry!" She finally belted out, unable to take the mind-bendingly exquisite mixture of pain and pleasure anymore.

__

Hopper chuckled triumphantly behind her. "That's a good little girl."

__

Flipping her back over now, Hopper yanked Gloria full-body around his middle, coaxing both her arms around his neck and burrowing himself deep inside her until they both saw stars.

__

"Yes, yes! Fuck me, Daddy. _Fuck your baby girl just like that_. Pretty, pretty please? _Ohhhhhhhh_." Gloria let out a sharp groan as he hit that one spot inside her he knew always took her breath away.   

__

"Yeaaaaah you gonna cum on Daddy's dick again, aren't you?" Hopper cooed over her as he began pounding into her body like both their lives depended on it.

__

They carried on this way for around three more minutes before Hopper grew increasingly breathless from the effort, a first for him ( _must've been all the rich food she'd been cooking for him and Jane lately—he'd need to get back on his diet_ _STAT_ ). Gloria's brows furrowed together slightly as he was forced to slow down somewhat in his ministrations then, sensing his burgeoning loss of energy. Hopper just leaned back down again, hoping to tongue her to distraction while he decided on a change of position that would get them _both_ off without making him want to pass out on top of her. It was all for naught however, because as soon as he lay completely flat over her again, Gloria threw her full weight against his body without warning, effectively rolling _him_ onto his back now.

__

"My turn, _Daddy_." She began climbing up him with a sly wink, settling herself down over his cock as _agonizingly slowly_ as humanly possible.

__

"You're crusin' for another bruisin', baby girl." He grunted at her sharply to get her to hurry the fuck up, desperate to watch her hop up and down on his painfully aching dick.

__

But Gloria just tutted at him with a vicious smirk. "Hit me and I won't play with you anymore, _Daddy_."

__

Hopper growled through clenched teeth but remained silent as she continued to stretch herself all around him, wanting as much of his throbbing member inside her as her tiny little form could take.

__

"Yeah, you like that don't you Daddy?" Gloria tossed out at him filthily as she began bouncing along his shaft wildly, tits ricocheting every which way and that from the sheer force of the impact.

__

"You know I do, baby. _You're always so good to your Daddy_." Hopper reached up to bring her lips crashing down into his own again, longing for more full-body contact.

__

How long they continued on this way, neither knew. At some points it felt like hours, at others mere minutes. By the time they both came screaming their brains out into each other's mouths, Hopper was on the verge of blacking out where he lay, and Gloria's breath was coming out in fairly shallow puffs even as she grinned like a complete idiot against his right nipple. _It was good to see her back to her old self again._

__

"THAT. Was. Mindblowing. Babydoll." Hopper managed to breathe out heavily through his nose before placing a gentle kiss atop those thick autumn curls.

__

Gloria hummed happily into his chest, reaching up to nuzzle the space right above his (rapidly beating) heart with the tip of her nose.

__

They remained comfortably intertwined like this for several long minutes. At some point Hopper reached down to stroke the hand laying gently against his hip, digits tracing the cool metal band of his mother's diamond along her slender ring finger. He frowned slightly as something from earlier that day began to stir inside his memory.

__

"Hey, baby…can I ask you a question?"

__

Gloria lifted her head slightly off his chest to look him the eye. "Of course, honey. Anything."

__

He chewed his tongue a little pensively before finally coming out with it.

__

"Why didn't you tell me your parents were divorced?"

__

The color drained out of her sex-flushed cheeks so fast it was truly a sight to behold.

__

"It's just," Hopper began again quickly, hoping to ease whatever tension may have sprung up between them then. " _Nobody_ could understand better than me, what it's like to go through a messy break-up," he paused to shrug a little bitterly here, "I'm just…kinda surprised you wouldn't share that with me. That's all."

__

Gloria sighed, closing her eyes and reaching up to massage her temple between thumb and forefinger. Without another word, she disentangled herself entirely from his body beneath her, leaving him feeling cold and awkward as she plopped herself down on the other side of the bed.

__

Hopper struggled helplessly to backtrack now. "Look, babydoll, if you just don't wanna get into it right now, that's fine. But at some point I really think we need to talk about what went down with your family. I mean, what's gonna happen when we invite them to the wedding—"

__

"No, you're right." Gloria cut him off more sharply than she probably intended. "You should know."

__

Her eyes were fixed rigidly on the ceiling above as she said it, wide and blank and unblinking.

__

"Jim, my parents never divorced," she began again several moments later in a low, husky voice. "My Dad…passed away, about six years ago. Francesca and I were seventeen. My Mom was…devastated. And had no idea how to be alone. She remarried a year later and I didn't handle it as well as I should have, all things considered."

__

For the third time that miserable day, tears began to flow down like blown-open floodgates all over her face again. In her head Gloria _screamed_ at herself relentlessly to get a grip, to not let him see her like this. _To regain control._

__

But it was no use now. _He'd dug up the tunnel, down the rabbit hole she'd go._

__

"…Oh my… _oh my God_." Hopper wiped a disbelieving hand over his shell-shocked face at the revelation.

__

_Suddenly so many things about her made sense._

__

_Suddenly he felt as sick and revolted with himself as that first morning back in the Maitlands' guest house._

__

"Oh, oh Gloria, I-I, I'm…" He had no idea what he could even say, a part of him wishing he could throw the covers back over himself and disappear. "Gloria, I'm so so sorry, I had no idea."

__

She shook her head back and forth vigorously. "I know I should have told you sooner but…it's still really raw for me. _I guess it always will be though, if I'm honest_ ," Gloria admitted in a slightly strangled tone, licking the wet trails off her lower lip angrily.

__

"Was it…um," Hopper struggled to broach the subject gently. "Was he…sick?"

__

Gloria shut her eyes tightly, full-body sobs escaping her once more despite throwing every effort she possessed in her body to try and fend them off.

__

"Oh, sweetheart." Hopper rushed to sit up beside her, moving to cradle her tightly in his arms, but she just batted his hand away.

__

"He was _murdered_." She just _barely_ managed to choke the full sentence out, but Hopper heard it anyway. _Rendering him stunned and immobile where he lay._

__

" _M-murdered?_ " He repeated the word to her disbelievingly.

__

Gloria nodded. "Yes. By someone I thought was my _friend_." The sob on the last word sounded like the bleating of a dying swan.

__

Without so much as a cursory look back at him, Gloria bolted from the bed, heading straight for the bathroom on the other side of the room. But Hopper was on his feet immediately behind her, and before she could finish locking the door in his face, she was in his arms, and he was rocking her trembling, naked body against his own atop of the freezing tile floor. _Whispering to her over and over and over again_ how sorry he was, that NOBODY could understand what she was going through better than him. _That everything would be alright now_. 'Cause she had him, and Jane too. They would _always_ be there for her. _He promised._

__

And even if it was only in her own head—somewhere through all the uncontrolled weeping against his chest, swallowing down the ever-present itch to purge her innards, and fending off all the ugly, awful memories she'd spent far too long building her house in— _she made a promise to him, too._

__

And Lucifer himself would quake deep within his soul at her wrath lest he DARE try and stop her from keeping it.

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, yeah I know. I'm super mean. Whatevs. "Love is an exquisite pain" and all that deep poetic stuff that makes the writing all the worthwhile. 
> 
> Aesthetics Board: --> https://www.pinterest.com/StarchildDreaming/what-lies-beneath/
> 
> Playlist: --> https://open.spotify.com/user/n11lr9pqs1mi4zxsaf3c4mbka/playlist/0x8z6aICNS6uj51ESLJiZC
> 
> OR
> 
> \--> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1KL_94LlepFXgroK_eW-MmMa0zl99LkN
> 
> Honestly I'd recommend checking out the Youtube Playlist 'cause the Spotify one won't play all the songs I've uploaded for whatever dumb reason -_-


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